‘We are using regional media to reach Bharat’

Volkswagen India has rolled out its new brand communication ‘You’re in a Volkswagen’, capturing the true emotion of owning a car with the line - ‘For those who are in love with driving, in love with motion’.  

The new brand communication captures a 360° perspective emphasizing what it means to drive a Volkswagen. Conceptualized by DDB Mudra Group with media planning by PHD, the new campaign takes a brand-first approach.

We caught up with Ashish Gupta, Brand Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars India, who spoke about the campaign’s idea and strategy. In its 15 years’ presence in India, the company has worked with DDB as its creative agency right from the beginning. Speaking on long-standing relationships, Gupta said both parties have their space to challenge each other and that’s how they have maintained to keep it going.

“15 years - a relationship by its core nature has its highs and lows. Any relationship, which is only ‘lovey-dovey’, doesn’t work. You have to fight and challenge each other. That is what the strength of the relationship has been. If we don’t like any work of DDB we challenge them, if they don’t like the direction that we are headed, they challenge us. And that’s how a partnership should be, and this has been the backbone of the longevity of the relationship.”

Speaking about the objective behind the film, he said, “In terms of brand awareness, we have reached a certain level with the kind of product portfolio that we offer, and the investments that we are planning to make. But the important thing was how do you drive this awareness into consideration, how do you make sure that the feeling of owning a Volkswagen is translated into customers. Today it is all about ‘jo dikhta hai, vo bikta hai’ but Volkswagen’s inherently values are inbuilt. Safety is not something that you can show through an infotainment system to customers, fun to drive is not something you can communicate through a film, these are things that you feel when you drive a Volkswagen.”

For the campaign, the company has a media plan consisting of a media budget bifurcated between TV, print, digital, OOH, and on-ground events. Gupta told us while digital has become important in recent times other mediums are also very important for them. The media budget is divided in a format where 25-30% on TV, similar in print, similar in digital, and the rest for events, OOH, etc. He said, “2020-2021 were special years, everyone went heavily digital and those were the avenues available. But now it has come back to normal, it cannot be heavily digitally focused. Digital is still very important to generate engagement.”

We asked Gupta about creating a balance between different marketing tactics. “When it comes to a brand, it has to be more content-based, the brand can only stay relevant if the content that you are putting out is relevant. When it comes to translating that entrust into the brand in sales, at the end of the day, we are selling products and services, it has to translate into better ROIs. At the end of the day, you have to have investments in performance marketing or tactical marketing.”

On an increase in auto purchases especially in the heartland, Gupta said, “The so-called Bharat were always aspirational people. In the last five years, they now have the resources and means to have those aspirations and that is why we see brands being present there. Your communication has to reach them. We are using regional media and have developed more touchpoints.”