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Sports Illustrated-Volkswagen Partnership Success Story Sports Illustrated is the number one sports publication in the country, thereby presenting some of the best ways to reach specific subsets of sports audiences through advertising. However, given the number of alternatives that companies can choose to spend their media dollars, media outlets like Sports Illustrated, are forced to differentiate, offer greater incentives to advertise, and package deeper and more meaningful ways to affect a companies’ brand image with specific target audiences. Companies, like Volkswagen, trying to reach its target audience ultimately strive to create emotional brand connections, assist consumers in differentiating between products in the marketplace, and affect the sum total of what people have in their heads about their product, service or organization. Further, as a marketing philosophy, Volkswagen looks for dynamic environments to create one-to-one marketing opportunities complimenting mass media strategies. Business problem Sports Illustrated wanted to present client’s media packages that enabled more than just advertising in the publication to reach specific subsets of their target audiences. “We strive to provide our clients as many ways as possible to differentiate their brands and reach our audiences,” said Jill Royster, Partnership Marketing Director for Sports Illustrated. “At the time, we were looking for meaningful ways to leverage our understanding of our target audience and our various partnerships, and Untraditional Marketing helped us to offer a unique brand-building package with clients, like Volkswagen, to strengthen our relationship with them.” Additionally, it was critical Sports Illustrated found introduction and branding-building opportunities to highlight their new SI Adventure product, which is a monthly insert focused on non-traditional sports such as kayaking, climbing, etc. Volkswagen was a client Sports Illustrated wanted to offer a value added opportunity to increase their advertising investment and overall relationship in the Sports Illustrated project. “At the time, we were looking to find an environment that could help us introduce the Touareg, the new SUV product, and build emotional brand connections within a subset of the Sports Illustrated audience,” said Joe Roman, Arnold Advertising, VW’s advertising agency of record. Further, Volkswagen was looking for environments to attach certain kinds of meaning to their overall brand, and create customer loyalty programs for their existing Volkswagen owners. Solution “We hired Untraditional Marketing to work some of their ‘black magic’,” said Royster. Untraditional Marketing created a value-added package for Sports Illustrated to pass through to Volkswagen, and simultaneously highlight the SI Adventure product. The package created by Untraditional Marketing included a series of advertisements in Sports Illustrated and a series of ads in SI Adventure for Volkswagen, and also highlighted the SI Adventure Gear Town at the Teva Mountain Games at Vail, the nation’s largest exposition of mountain recreational activities and high-country culture. The three-way partnership also built presenting sponsorship benefits within the Mountain Games‘ for Volkswagen deepening the VW emotional brand connection with this audience. Payoff The value-added package that Untraditional Marketing created helped Sports Illustrated land an incremental multiple year contract with Volkswagen and solidify their relationship during a heavy economic downturn that was not conducive to advertising sales. “This brand building packaged enabled us to offer a meaningful way for us to strengthen a relationship with a very important client, and for Volkswagen to meets its business goals by further building its brand essence,” said Royster. The results for Volkswagen were just as impressive. On top of the advertising exposure Volkswagen received in Sports Illustrated and the Fox Sports Net coverage of the event, Volkswagen also doubled the amount of Toureg test drives that they expected on site at the Teva Mountain Games. “This was an incredible opportunity for Volkswagen,” said Roman. “We considered the Mountain Games‘ as one of the best-produced events we have ever been involved in that produced significant and interactive, brand-building opportunities for us with a key audience.” Other Volkswagen benefits included a 4-wheel test drive test course on Vail Mountain during the Teva Mountain Games for individuals to take the vehicle on an authentic off-road course. Volkswagen also was able to foster a year-round relationship with Teva that put their high-profile technical representatives in Volkswagens all over the Country. For additional information on Untraditional Marketing and/or its business successes, please visit www.untraditional.com or contact Joel Heath at 970.926.4799. |
