Insight
Peugeot Argentina was launching a 400-units limited edition of its successful model 308. The biggest challenge is that the model does not present any big changes, and it is part of a highly competitive segment – with many new competitors in 2014 – in an industry currently shrinking due to macroeconomic reasons (sales are expected to decrease by 30%, as compared to 2013).
In addition to this launch, Peugeot relies – among its communication pillars – on tennis sponsorship and has a relationship with diverse world-renowned tennis players, such as Novak Djokovic. Moreover, this year, Peugeot is celebrating its 30th anniversary as a Roland Garros sponsor.
Taking all these variables into consideration, Havas Media Group decided to create a communication proposal that could help launch 308's new version and, at the same time, made it possible for Peugeot to strengthen its relationship with the brand customers, making it deeper and extending it to relevant territories. Peugeot is a brand that has a long history with Argentinians, tennis and especially with its cars, which have a renowned avant-garde design.
Under the slogan "Motion & Emotion" Peugeot wishes to provide the best driving experience and the best design in all of its vehicles. How? Through innovative experiences, in order to build customer engagement.
Strategy
Consumers expect brands to help them achieve a better quality of life, not only with their products, but also through other contributions that make them feel better, entertain them, and give them reasons to feel proud and happy.
Given that tennis and its players receive a lot of attention from the public and Roland Garros is one of the main worldwide tournaments, the agency decided to create a brand experience that combined these elements and captured them in a limited edition of 308 Roland Garros, specially created for this anniversary.
In order to make a connection with the audience, it decided to focus on the content and what people want to see: the history of champions. The creative proposal was to work with three important figures to bring this campaign alive: Djokovic, the Serbian player currently ranked World No 1, and Gaudio and Vilas, representing Argentinian tennis, all three of them being Roland Garros champions. Using exclusive content as the centre of the campaign, Havas Media Group would activate the different communication strategies in a 360º comprehensive platform.
Pride + Entertainment - In order to achieve public engagement with the brand, the agency created an action centered around emotional and experiential content. It focused on the history of Argentinian Roland Garros champions: Guillermo Vilas and Gastón Gaudio.
This was the brand’s way of paying homage to them. Peugeot 308 special edition invited them to reminisce their victories in a trip to Paris, so that they could, in that emblematic setting, narrate their own memories, experiences and anecdotes of those championships won in 1977 and 2004.
Execution
The concept statement chosen was Peugeot 308 Roland Garros, Te lleva a las emociones (Peugeot 308 Roland Garros, Driving you towards emotion). The agency created a 1-hour documentary about the Argentinian tennis players, to be aired on ESPN. This product would serve as an excuse to get close to and have material to interact with the target audience.
Before releasing the documentary, it decided to raise awareness in the public through different actions, so that more people would visit YouTube and Peugeot’s website. First came the advertising campaign, with a first-class presenter: Novak Djokovic, who came thanks to a global agreement. This was the introduction of the product to the market.
A few days later, with a spontaneous warm-up game between the Argentinian champions in downtown Buenos Aires, Peugeot gave a preview of the documentary, which gave it prominence in the press and among people through social media.
Then came the official press release of the new 308RG, and released the documentary trailer and an ad campaign inviting people to watch it on ESPN or the website.
One day prior to the documentary being released on TV, an Avant Premiere was held at Recoleta’s Village Cinema, with two exclusive screenings for 400 guests. On June 11, it came full circle: the documentary was aired during prime time on ESPN.
Results
The campaign resulted in a 300% increase in audience in ESPN time slot: With the documentary release, it successfully overcame the toughest hurdle. On the day prior to the beginning of the FIFA World Cup, Peugeot managed to triple the average popularity rating of that time slot in ESPN, reaching 900,000 people.
The post-test revealed that the advertising campaign itself surpassed the norm of GFK –a renowned research company– for the country by 7% and 8% in model awareness and brand awareness respectively.
In the street event, Peugeot surprised over 200 passers-by, who interacted with the tennis players, filmed them and even played tennis with them, and later uploaded the videos to social media, generating thousands of views.
Launching a new vehicle always presents a challenge that requires 2 or 3 years of planning. In Argentina, due to the current recession, this poses an immense challenge, so succeeding in selling all 400 units in only two months is even more satisfactory. In a constantly evolving industry, the brand managed to take the lead with a global trend related to the construction of its own contents, but focused on the desires of the target and not on the brand.