Volkswagen: Lucky drive on digital

The month-long campaign asks the consumer to book a test drive for the Polo or Vento in the 13th minute of any hour on Facebook or the Volkswagen website, and maybe win the car.

German automobile maker Volkswagen has launched a digital campaign titled 'Lucky 13' to generate test drive leads for its Polo and Vento variants. Started on January 13, the month-long campaign asks the consumer to book a test drive for the Polo or Vento in the 13th minute of any hour, and win the car they are interested in. .

The user needs to book the test drive through the Volkswagen website, or the Volkswagen Facebook application. Registered users will be contacted by one of the dealers and will be asked to answer three multiple choice questions correctly. Subsequently, the user stands a chance to win the car he/she had chosen to take a test drive.

The Facebook application houses a basic image along with a form that needs to be filled up by the user. However, unlike other Facebook apps, here, users do not need to 'Like' the page. Volkwagen's brand page on Facebook also promotes the campaign among its 1.1 million fans. Besides, the brand has also engaged with its Twitter followers to promote the contest with a hashtag, #lucky13.

Describing the objective behind this digital launch,
Lutz Kothe
, head, marketing and PR, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, tells afaqs! that the idea was to bring prospective customers to Volkswagen showrooms and test drive the carlines. "Lucky 13 is an innovative campaign driven by a contest specifically designed for the Polo and Vento buyers. The idea of the campaign is to change the perception of luck by making the number 13 unbelievably lucky for the customers and offering them a chance to win a Polo or a Vento," Kothe added.

According to Kothe, Volkswagen has seen a sharp increase in the test drive inquiries. "Since the launch of the campaign, we have received more than 20,000 enquiries and the total number of test drives has already exceeded the 10,000 mark,"

he informs.

However, of late, the brand's experience with Twitter has not been very good as its last newspaper ad on The Times of India, which featured a small vibrating device and asked readers if they could "Feel the shiver of excitement?", received quite a lot of negative review from Tweeters who compared the device with a vibrator.

The company has been promoting its Polo and Vento variants and inviting test drives on different media for the last couple of months. In November 2012, Volkswagen launched 'The Post It' campaign for the Polo and Vento range, which focused on on-ground activities carried out by the dealers. The brand extended it on print, announcing the contest in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and four other cities.

Besides, Volkswagen has also engaged through several digital campaigns in the country. It launched #anything4jetta campaign that promoted the launch of its all new Jetta. Besides, it also operates a community engagement portal, PlanetVolkswagen.co.in, which engages users and talks about Volkswagen as a brand and its models. The portal promotes better living by raising environmental issues and also houses games for kids.