Møller Group, one of Northern Europe’s biggest Volkswagen dealers, use rich media ads to turn requesting a test drive into a personalised and seamless experience for their customers, leading to a huge sales boost during their slowest retail month of the year.
THE GOALS
Find a better way to adapt customer expectations at the test-drive stage
To create an interactive, personalised and responsive experience for the user
Drive sales
THE APPROACH
Full use of the DoubleClick Suite: DoubleClick Studio, DoubleClick Campaign Manager and Bid Manager
Use of Google maps API and Google AppEngine to harness interactive elements
Use of affinity data to create a customised experience
THE RESULTS
Sold 150 cars in 10 days, beating original target of 50 car sales in one month
Sales occurred in December, traditionally the slowest sales month of the year
Total of 197 cars sold in December
Founded in 1936, the Møller Group is now one of the largest Volkswagen dealers in Northern Europe, with operations in Norway, Sweden and the Baltics. With more than 1.25m cars sold over the years, the company has a strong foundation from which to build as they adjust to the requirements of an on-demand economy, in which users expect high degrees of interaction, personalisation, and responsiveness.
Experimenting with rich media
In a recent rich media experiment, Volkswagen and Møller Group set out to see if it was possible to find a better way to adapt to these customer expectations at the crucial test drive stage of the acquisition funnel. With a radical idea in mind - to compress the complicated, multi-step process of requesting a test drive into a single rich media ad, and then deliver a vehicle directly to the user’s location - the team began working with Google to shape the concept and gather the technical requirements to make it a reality.
Ultimately, creative agency Keyteq decided on DoubleClick Studio to author the ad itself, while DoubleClick Campaign Manager and Bid Manager were used for roll out and targeting, with the Google Maps API and Google AppEngine underpinning the campaign’s interactive elements.
In addition to streamlining the test drive request process, the campaign made use of geolocation data, along with first- and third-party affinity data around brands, colours, and car models to provide a more personalised experience. Not only did this data ensure that the test drive advert was seen by the right people at the right time, but that each impression was oriented as far as possible to the preferences of the individual. When it was finished, instead of a traditional static banner ad, potential customers were presented with a tailored interactive experience, allowing them to register in real time for a test drive and then have the vehicle delivered to their location within minutes.
Personalisation gets results
This powerful personalisation and ease of use led to some great results when the campaign was piloted by Møller Group in Norway in December 2015. In just ten days of what is traditionally the slowest sales month of the year, Møller Group sold 150 cars, with especially strong results from retargeted users who had previously shown an interest in Volkswagen deals and offers.
“We’ve learned a lot about rich media ads and use of data to show ads to the right people with the right content,” says Rune Brunstøl, Sales Manager of Møller Bil, Bergen, who expects the test drive advert to become a standard part of the brand’s tool-kit for attracting new customers. “The user centric focus is what excites me most about this project. Seeing with my own eyes how enthusiastic a potential customer becomes after a test drive tells me that by solving the user's problem, we will sell more cars.”
