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MEDIA EVENT |
Company: Volkswagen Group of America Inc.
Event Name: VW - 2011 Jetta Launch
Objective: Create awareness about the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta through a media campaign aimed at automotive press to generate more than 500 million impressions. Engage at least 5,000 consumers through live and digital event coverage. Generate 10,000 impressions through Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
Strategy: Plan media events in New York and San Francisco to introduce the 2011 Jetta to the public and the media. Use social media to increase brand awareness.
Tactics: Build a media event with singer Katy Perry and Chef Mario Batali in New York. Encourage attendees to upload photos from the New York event to Facebook and Twitter. Host a media event in San Francisco, and give automobile-industry press a ride-and-drive tour through the city.
Results: Earned 562 million media impressions. Enticed 300 consumers to upload photos to Facebook, 1,800 consumers to tweet about the launch, and more than 9,000 viewers to watch the launch online via VW.com, Facebook, and Ustream. Logged 398,200 fans and 1,354 "likes" on Facebook.
Creative/Production Agency: Jack Morton, www.jackmorton.com
Budget: $4.7 million |
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 ccording to Edmunds Inc., an online hub of information for auto insiders and enthusiasts, more than 400 new car makes and models will be released in 2011. And with each launch usually comes a launch event of some sort - most of which follow a monotonous mold of turntables, test drives, and tire kicking.
But when Volkswagen Group of America Inc. began planning for the launch of its 2011 Jetta, it wasn't interested in rolling out the same-old auto-industry red carpet. Rather, VW aspired to up the auto-industry ante while simultaneously elevating the brand perception of its new Jetta and increasing awareness of the vehicle as a fun, affordable car.
So VW turned to Jack Morton of New York to help it design a media
event that wouldn't attract just auto-industry influencers, but also the general public. "The new Jetta needed to appeal to the huge market of middle America," says Philip McDougall, vice president of creative at Jack Morton.
While sending a press release and inviting the media to come see the new model would have sufficed for most automakers, VW wanted to do more than just put the new Jetta on a revolving platform and hope reporters would be impressed. The company hoped to create a spike in brand awareness surrounding the launch of the car. To fuel said spike, VW and Jack Morton devised a two-part strategy, not just targeting different audience segments (end users and the media), but also offering two different event experiences on opposite ends of the United States.
The first of two launch events for the 2011 Jetta, the Times Square soirée targeted the general public and media.
 The urban oasis featured branded umbrellas, wood-framed lawn chairs, beach sand, and grass.
 Pop singer Katy Perry
surprised the crowd with a performance of her hit songs while standing atop a Jetta.
 Chef Mario Batali shared summer-inspired recipes (and food) with press attendees.
The San Francisco event targeted the auto-industry press - namely journalists
who review
new makes
and models.
 A crane hoisted a 2011 Jetta
to its final resting place -
a platform located on the fourth-floor balcony of the
St. Regis Hotel.
 Members of the media took their seats while VW execs detailed the new Jetta's specs.
 Journalists were given a map of
San Francisco
and invited to
take a Jetta out
for a test drive.
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A dramatic unveiling of the new Jetta would take place in New York's Times Square, with the intent of building some serious brand buzz. That flashy unveiling would be followed by a more intimate, substantive San Francisco-based event exclusively for the writers and editors responsible for reviewing new makes and models. VW hoped this bicoastal event approach would earn 500 million combined print and online media impressions, engage at least 5,000 consumers through live and digital event coverage, and generate 10,000 impressions via Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, making the new VW a viral sensation.
The Big Apple
To start spreading the news about the new Jetta, VW sent out press releases to members of the automotive media announcing the unveiling of the car "at an unexpected urban oasis in Times Square, New York." VW hoped the vague invitation would pique the curiosity of the media, ensuring a large turnout at the event.
Since the launch would take place on June 15, 2010, the Manhattan location would likely be filled with tourists, and as that crowd dispersed following the event, attendees would hopefully take home the VW brand message.
Knowing that a public event would need to entertain the masses with more than just the unveiling of a car, VW teased the media with the promise of special celebrity appearances and a place for the public to relax. Inspired by the Jetta's tagline, "Great for the price of good," Jack Morton set out to deliver on VW's promise of value.
When the sun rose on Times Square that morning, the press and public discovered a block-long section of the iconic New York site transformed. In front of the Theater Development Fund's TKTS bleachers
- a set of seats at 47th Street and Broadway - Jack Morton turned a piece of bustling Midtown Manhattan into a relaxing beach scene.
On the sidewalk opposite the bleachers was a 20-by-30-foot stage where VW planned to unveil its car and present its celebrity guests. Sand and grass between the stage and the seats gave New York the look of a summer getaway. Branded umbrellas and wood-framed lounge chairs dotted the sidewalk, transforming that section of Broadway into an urban oasis.
Overlooking the entire area was an electronic billboard that Jack Morton rented for the day to give passersby a countdown to the big event. The billboard featured an image of a fabric-covered car - hidden until the unveiling - next to a clock that ticked off the seconds until the big reveal.
Countdown at the Crossroads
About an hour before the 10 a.m. unveiling of the car, more than 200 journalists who had RSVP'd were assembled at a restaurant across from the Times Square "urban oasis" and taken to seating on the grass in front of the stage. Meanwhile, members of the public began to gather around as the countdown clock wound down.
When the clock hit zero, the new Jetta - both live and on the video billboard - was revealed. The same video feed for the billboard was also seen online through a link on the VW website and was soon uploaded to YouTube as well.
As the audience snapped photos, VW representatives encouraged attendees to share the experience via Twitter through a special Jetta hashtag or via VW's Facebook page, where live updates were streaming. People who tweeted photos or "liked" the Facebook page were entered into a drawing for VW merchandise. And as the VW reps talked about the car, they also encouraged attendees to stick around for a celebrity appearance.
Finally, nearly an hour into the launch event, VW's secret special guest hit the stage for a 15-minute set. Decked out in a palm-tree-print dress, singer Katy Perry came out and sang her hit songs "Hot n Cold" and "I Kissed A Girl" before launching into "California Gurls," which had been recently released as a single on the U.S. pop charts. During her performance, Perry made her way to the car's hood, where she stood barefoot while singing her song as photographers snapped away. The last song, which became a No. 1 hit, had a summer theme that resonated with the beach-inspired aesthetic of the event's urban oasis.
After Perry's turn on the stage, VW reps introduced celebrity chef Mario Batali. Reflecting back on the Jetta's "Great for the price of good" tagline, Batali whipped up some summer recipes, then showed the crowd how to make each dish "great" with just a few "good" tricks. A supply of his tasty creations was set aside for journalists to enjoy as the presentation continued.
"It was a smart move to use distinctly different tactics to appeal to both of their target-audience segments," said one Corporate Event Awards judge. "VW brought in Katy Perry to appeal to the general public and potential buyers of the car, but hired Mario Batali to appeal to the press. Bringing in two entertainers for two different audience segments helped make this event a balanced marriage between public launch and media event."
With the celebrities done for the day, VW kept the car and the "urban oasis" beach scene in place and staffed until 4 p.m. so the public could stop by, ask questions about the car, or simply get up close and personal with the Jetta. "The oasis within Times Square served as an ideal platform to showcase the sophistication and precision German engineering of the new Jetta," says Mya Walters, manager of brand communications for Volkswagen Group of America Inc. And as the day progressed, passersby stopped to ask questions, get their photos taken with the Jetta, and upload the pictures to VW's Facebook page.
Once the Times Square event was over, VW hosted a party that evening for media reps at Ink48, an upscale hotel in the middle of Manhattan. The invitation-only soirée gave press members a chance to chat one on one with VW reps about the Jetta.
Jetta By The Bay
If the New York event was for the public and the mainstream press, the event in San Francisco was purely for the gear-grinding members of the media. Held over a period of two weeks to allow automotive writers and bloggers a chance to get behind the wheel of the car, the West Coast version of the Jetta launch kicked off on Aug. 15 with another dramatic unveiling of the car.
Promotion of the San Francisco event began with press releases to publications that review cars from a technical and drivability standpoint. Since many of these publications and their top writers are based in Northern California, having a second launch in San Francisco just made sense.
On the evening preceding the West Coast launch, Jack Morton arranged for a Jetta to be hoisted by crane onto a fourth-floor balcony of the St. Regis Hotel. The car was placed on a platform beneath a fabric cover and revealed to seated attendees as VW representatives spoke about the car's development and the company's intention to make the Jetta more affordable while retaining its VW quality.
The outdoor, rooftop setting made a splash with the media, and VW uploaded a video to YouTube of the car being placed on the balcony the night before. After the press conference, the media was taken to VW's electronics research lab in nearby Palo Alto, CA, for a tour of the facility that helped in the development of the new Jetta. In the evening, media reps mingled at a private party where they were given another opportunity to see the Jetta.
Over the next two weeks, VW scheduled Jetta ride-and-drive tours in San Francisco with automobile writers from around the world, giving the press hands-on experiences inside the car. VW provided participants with maps of cool landmarks in and around San Francisco, and encouraged them to soak up the city while photographing the new Jetta in front of the city's iconic vistas. More than 300 writers showed up for appointments to drive a Jetta through San Francisco, along the Pacific Coast Highway, and through Northern California wine country.
VW's Victory Lap
VW hoped to increase awareness of the Jetta through a combination of media impressions, direct engagement with the public, and social-media buzz surrounding the launch and the car. In the end, the Jetta launch earned more than 562 million media impressions through more than 308 print and online stories, exceeding its original goal by more than 10 percent.
At the Times Square event, roughly 3,500 consumers stopped to see the Jetta, while another 9,000 watched the unveiling of the car online at VW.com, Facebook, and Ustream. That total of 12,500 direct impressions more than doubled VW's original goal of 5,000 end-user engagements.
Finally, the Jetta event built huge buzz through social-media sites. Facebook posts reached more than 398,000 fans, generating 1,354 "likes" and 545 comments. There were also nearly 600 tweets mentioning the Jetta unveil, which reached more than 1.24 million Twitter users. Furthermore, more than 9,200 views of the car being hoisted onto the St. Regis Hotel balcony were recorded via YouTube. All together, this gave VW a social-media win that dramatically exceeded the 10,000 impressions it hoped to make through the web.
"In a very true sense, these two events targeted three distinct audiences. The New York event got end users and potential buyers buzzing, while appealing to the general press that might not otherwise cover a new-car launch," said one judge. "The San Francisco event, however, catered to the reviewers with the power to make or break a new make or model. Both of these events were successful in their own right. But the pair of them made for a big-picture event strategy that was more than the sum of its parts." E
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