A subsidiary of General Motors Company, Opel designs, engineers, manufactures and distributes passenger and light commercial vehicles and parts for distribution in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. The company also designs and manufactures vehicles sold under the Buick brand in the US, Canada, Mexico and China, under the Holden brand in Australia and New Zealand, and under the Vauxhall brand in the UK.
Approach
Launched TrueView InStream pre-roll ads on YouTube
Used demographic targeting and affinity segments to drive reach
Implemented a Brand Lift survey
Goals
Drive awareness of new Opel Mokka
Showcase model’s unique technical features and characteristics
Results
Campaign successfully reached males and females ages 18 to 34
Target 18-to-24 age group produced greatest brand lift
People who viewed ad were 27% more likely to recall it later
Ad recall uplift for users exposed more than twice was 53%, compared to 22% for users exposed once
Activity produced a brand awareness uplift of 16%
A subsidiary of General Motors Company, Opel designs, engineers, manufactures and distributes passenger and light commercial vehicles and parts for distribution in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. The company also designs and manufactures vehicles sold under the Buick brand in the US, Canada, Mexico and China, under the Holden brand in Australia and New Zealand, and under the Vauxhall brand in the UK.
To launch the new Opel Mokka in Russia, Opel turned to its media agency Vizeum to create a campaign across a broad range of digital formats as well as TV, press and outdoor. The overall objective was to drive awareness of the new model and to showcase its unique technical features and characteristics.
Setting the wheels in motion
The team decided to develop a massive YouTube presence in the form of TrueView InStream pre-roll ads, using the ad format to show how Opel Mokka's features help users deal with obstacles. The creatives _ called the SkipTest _ comprised a series of pre-roll ads where the car interacted with the "óskip' button as if it were a real obstacle on the road, driving over, swerving around, and even crashing into it. The team then used demographic targeting and affinity segments - - which enable brands to reach users who have demonstrated an interest in certain topics to drive high reach across auto enthusiasts likely to be interested in the Opel Mokka.
Opel also took advantage of a new opportunity available through the platform, Google's Brand Lift survey. This tool measures the effectiveness of display and video campaigns using survey and search data. Within a matter of days, Vizeum was able to use insights gained from the survey data to see how the ads were affecting consumers' awareness of the brand and how well the ads were recalled.
Paving a new way forward
According to Maria Kosareva, Marketing Manager at General Motors CIS, the campaign successfully reached males and females ages 18 to 34 and met Opel's core objectives. The Brand Lift survey validated the campaign's creative strategy. "The campaign confirmed that using YouTube-tailored videos opposite TV creatives significantly increases viewership of the ad by making it more interactive and engaging. We got very excited about the results which were above average for ad recall metrics and within benchmark for brand awareness."
YouTube was a great platform for generating buzz around the new launch, and for driving consideration and loyalty metrics. Developing a YouTube strategy tailored around high-quality content is the key to success in digital world.
-Maria Kosareva, Marketing Manager, General Motors CIS
With results broken out by demographic, frequency and more, the survey provided key insights to help Opel reach consumers effectively. For example, the team learned that women and men recalled the ad similarly, while the target 18-to-24 age group produced the biggest brand awareness lift. People who viewed the ad were 27% more likely to recall it later, and those who saw the ad at least twice were two times more likely to recall the ad compared to those exposed once. Overall, the activity produced a brand awareness uplift of 16%.
Armed with data like this, Opel is already looking forward to initiating more video marketing going forward."YouTube was a great platform for generating buzz around the new launch, and for driving consideration metrics," Maria says. The client is convinced that using YouTube as part of their media strategy is very important, therefore Opel plans to continue investing further into the creative video formats and non-standard targeting options in order to capture their audience at scale and drive brand awareness for new model launches and tactical campaigns.
