Vauxhall Commercial Vehicles

Improving brand perceptions with a football sponsorship

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Background

Over the previous two years sales of Vauxhall Commercial Vehicles (VCV) had steadily grown establishing the brand as number two in the commercial vehicle market.

Brand perceptions were lagging behind the very strong set of sales figures so the challenge was to communicate quality and value for money messages.

Increasing awareness around certain models would redress the perception that customers had of VCV.

Why radio?

VCV had to forge an emotional connection with their target audience of C1C2DE men, making radio the ideal partner to deliver a long term share of voice.

Research revealed that football was a key emotional driver for this demographic so gaining access to Premier League fans allowed VCV to create content that really resonated with the consumer.

Implementation

talkSPORT, who had just acquired the rights to broadcast live coverage of the Premier League, was selected as a fitting platform for VCV to communicate with the consumer and raise awareness of its van models.

VCV seamlessly integrated their messaging into talkSPORT’s sponsorship of the Premier League so that a close relationship with football fans could be fostered.

To raise awareness of the VCV range each model was assigned a unique onair programming feature. For example, ‘Clash of the Weekend’ showcased the Movano, ‘Voice of the Fans’ the Vivaro, and ‘Key Drivers’, focussing on individual team players, was the feature for the Astravan. Finally, ‘Man of the Match’ was used to communicate the overall VCV brand message of ‘Wheels of Business’.

The activity culminated with one listener getting the chance to win a Vauxhall mini bus for their local football team at the end of the season.

Results

The sponsorship allowed VCV to reach 2.4m C1C2DE men throughout the Premier League season.

Research showed that there was a significant shift in listener’s perception of the brand. For example, awareness of the sponsorship was at a very high 72% whilst increasing overall model awareness. VCV was also perceived by 63% of those surveyed as being ‘good quality’, and that a Vauxhall van ‘helps me do my job well’ by 60%.

In terms of consideration VCV moved from third, behind Competitor A in first and Competitor B in second, to second place amongst its Competitor set.

RAB Comment

VCV understood the motivations of their audience and could therefore engage the male football fan and change brand perceptions. The longterm partnership had the desired effect of generating cut-through from their competitors and improving preference scores of them as a van specialist.

"Our sponsorship of talkSPORT is working for several reasons and it's clear from the research we carried out that the sponsorship has cut-through, with strong brand awareness which is above the radio norm, along with above average brand perception from those aware of our sponsorship; customer take-out is also very positive."

Simon Culley, Marketing Manager, Vauxhall Commercial Vehicles