While Volkswagen dominates overseas, research showed that Kiwis thought the brand was too cold, too bland and too European. So to change that, it invested heavily in indigenous research and advertising, launched some very successful new products and quickly went from ‘niche street to main street’. National marketing manager Denis Goodwin on the year that was.
1) Favourite campaign that isn’t yours
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7t63xZ4GRAHell’s Pizza Roulette. The gamification of pizza buying—very clever and effective. A special mention to 2degrees on its overall strategy, very in touch with NZ and achieving 1,000,000 customers you can’t argue with their effectiveness.
2) Favourite campaign that is yours:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNs1BXzKWaILaunching our Amarok ute. Kiwis really connected with the campaign and loved the story telling and the authentic characters especially Jess the dog. It proved very effective.
3) Least favourite campaign
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-YiklY7qF4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_fRFxf9JXoThere are a few, from the BNZ Money is Good/Money is Bad campaign (I felt a little let down after all the teaser hype) to the retail world of Big Save Furniture.
4) Best brand
Apple. Simple. Clever. Brilliant.
5) Best stoush
There are a few here too. Firstly the Bank Wars, from the agency shifts to the rebrand of National Bank to ANZ and all the campaigns that have flowed around it. It has been really interesting to watch it play out. Plus the continued Telco Wars with Vodafone vs. 2 Degrees.
6) Heroes
The NZ Olympic team’s performance in London and Bret McKenzie winning an Oscar. Stellar results on the world stage.
7) Villains
Nadzeya Ostapchuk. I need say no more.
8) Most memorable marketing moment
Recognition of Volkswagen at the TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards. Our whole team was humbled.
9) A few predictions for 2013
We will continue to experience tighter budgets, less large scale television production, more focus on driving foot traffic, continued shift to digital, overall smarter more frugal marketing as margins are squeezed.