VOLKSWAGEN INDIA: DAS AUTO, DIGITALLY

Group: 11
Q.1. Volkswagen’s Digital marketing strategy
Volkswagen (VW) India made digital marketing a significant component of its own ads in 2011.
People were not aware of the brand when VW was started, and social media was also new, so
the focus was on display ads. VW advertised on widely reputed and high-traffic news and data
portal pages, as well as sites / review sites for auto portals.
VW focused on the planning of promotional inventories and acknowledged the consumer funnel.
Cost per lead "was the primary metric for quantifying any effort." "VW invested in search engine
marketing for organic and paid inquiries, which led to" Planet Volkswagen, "(PV), after brand
awareness was created through display ads. With each segment built around a specific topic on
a rotating ring-shaped ball, VW activities were symbolised by PV. PV received a great response;
however, ads needed to lead to test drives due to the downturn in business in 2012, thus
reducing efforts against PV. Two attempts to boost leads were produced one after another.
Analysing the Strategy
Building Awareness

• Advertising through search advertisements, display banners, rich online applications,

website designing and social media.
• India had 73 million internet users. 50 % of the users were in the age group of 25 to 44
who were the likely target segment for Volkswagen.
• VW focused mostly on creating awareness through display ads. VW spent 50 % of its
budget on display, 30 % on paid search & 20 % on social media.
• It advertised on reputed, influential & high traffic news & information portals such as
MSN, sify , Money Control & Yahoo .
• Initially displayed advertising on mass portals. Later shifted to targeted displays.
Tapping the Consumer Intent

• Display Advertising •
• Search Engine Marketing which included both organic and paid search advertising
• Used SEO optimization techniques to improve the position of the website in a SERP VW
also used Paid search advertising.
• VW divided the keywords into brand competition or category
• VW advertised aggressively on brand keywords as the consumer was actively seeking
information about the brand
Enhancing the Website Experience

• User lands up in VW website after clicking the add

 • They used favourable image in their website
• They have added customer friendly tools such as
o Model locator
o Dealer locator
o Interactive application
• They provided portal where dealer and sales team can interact
Social Media

• In 2011, VW had 5000 fans on Facebook and 350 followers on Twitter. This was the time
when VW changed its strategy from gaining fans to engaging fans.
• They focused on INNOVATION as a common thread across all forms of media
• With creative campaigns and multiple contests, VW made its social media more engaging
• With YouTube Test Drive, it took its Digital game to the next level, being the major for the
digital engagement
Engaging the consumers

• In order to engage with the fans it created a content calendar for all the problems
• Videos and images contributed to higher engagement rates compared to images and
posted the same in all the platforms
• Main goal was to engage consumers by gaining more fans on social media platform
• Role of Social media Brand building, ORM and CRM
• The company in order to communicate with customers, it wanted to bring all its
customers to its FB page
• They also integrated social media with each of its digital campaigns. Two platforms were
created to provide update on IPL
CRM Practises of Volkswagen

• Bifurcation of browser tabs

• Extensive follow - up
• Customer centric preferences Sales process feedback system
• Integrated CRM system
• Free service camps for the customers who owned cars
Q2 Was the Planet Volkswagen campaign successful?
Volkswagon in an attempt to raise its community engagement launched the planet Volkswagon
campaign which invites all segments from its community. The portal talks about Volkswagen as
a brand, its exciting car models, brings the gaming madness for its fans, has a kids section, and
also invites the community for a better, cleaner, and safer planet.
Revolving earth will appear in front of you to mesmerize your eyes.
The revolving earth has some amazing sections for you to visit.
Think Blue: It is an effort from Volkswagen to make a clean and better planet by creating
environmentally friendly products and solutions. The idea is also to make the community aware
and impart knowledge. One of the initiatives in this direction is the Carbon Footprint
Calculator that calculates consumptions of electricity and heat
Volkswagen Corporate: This section talks mainly about the lovely car models that Volkswagen
has. So you can explore a particular model, book a test drive, etc. With the latest models,
Volkswagen talks about the latest technological innovations it is doing to provide a safe and
comfortable ride for its customers.
Text Drive: A feature that is now open for exploring only is going to be live on 17th October. It is
a virtual race and the maximum kilometers driven by an individual could get him lucky to win a
real Polo Car. A section that is going to see a lot of excitement.
Volkswagen Play: This section builds up more excitement where you are asked to select and
drive a Volkswagen model and win some races. If you love car games then this is a place for you.
Volkswagen Junior: Is the final section where Volkswagen has dedicated this to the young
children. With some fun section, young ones have a classroom section where they would be
taught road manners and things related to Volkswagen’s history, science, etc.

this campaign not only engages the community but is also trying to achieve CSR via the social
way with this launch. The portal has all the elements of information and entertainment to hold
a fan longer.

The campaign success could be measured by 2 parameters

A - On the basis of CTR
CTR in digital marketing means stands for click-through rate: a metric that measures the number
of clicks advertisers receive on their ads per number of impressions.

Planet VW campaign Performance

4.00%
3.50%
3.00%
2.50%
CTR

2.00%
1.50%
1.00%
0.50%
0.00%

Websites

Actual CTR = (1.33+.17+.07+.27+.16+.44+3.76+.13+.28+.17+.18+.36+.09)/13

= .57
In other campaigns mentioned in the case, VW had a 3% rate which so in terms if CTR this
campaign was not successful
B – In terms of impression

140000000
120000000
100000000
80000000
60000000
40000000
20000000
0

Bought Impression Actual Impression

It could be clearly seen that the bought impression are less than the actual impressions which
means the campaign was successful on these parameter