(this article is second in a series, from Sanjeev Jasani, VP at OgilvyOne, New Delhi)
Chevrolet was going to launch a compact sedan with mid-size appeal – Cruze. A car destined to make an impact. This car breaks stereotypes, while staying true to its DNA. It’s bold. It’s stylish. It’s aggressive. It’s bigger. Faster. Stronger. Safer. And it embodies the spirit of Chevy’s legendary muscle cars. In fact, the design of the Cruze is inspired by one of the most revered Chevys ever – the Corvette. And just like the Corvette, the Cruze features a push-button start, twin-cockpit sports car interior, and an exhilarating feeling that only people who love to drive understand. The Cruze is a category breaker, in a class of its own, and a car that’s value without compromise.
For Chevy, Cruze was an important launch not just because of the features of the product, but also because it was going to showcase the new face of Chevy in India in terms of styling and to let go the baggage of the GM global image post bankruptcy that acted as a barrier in the minds of the Indian consumer.
Chevy was launching a car in an already cluttered segment that was dominated by Honda and Skoda with 32% & 26% share respectively. Further, the image of Chevy took a hit in India post GM filed for bankruptcy in U.S. and hence, Chevy was not considered at the time of purchase. While the Cruze is a category breaker, the biggest challenge was to excite the TG and push them to consider the Cruze by demonstrating the segment first innovative features such as PEPS.
Out of a total of 377 people who we sent the DM to, we wanted at least 7% to test drive Cruze and consider the product. We sent the DM to 377 HNI Golfers. Why? A market research for the segment was conducted by Chevy that highlighted the need, interest and market share of the HNI Golfer community. On further probing, we found that while the HNI Golfer is constantly looking for style statement and a bold impression, he is also value conscious and hence, looks for the best of both worlds – value and features which Cruze is offering.
Since Cruze is a category breaker offering the segment first features, we wanted to create excitement & buzz around the product and make the TG ‘FEEL THE PULL’. OgilvyOne took the responsibility to generate hot leads through direct mailers which were sent to an external base of HNI Golfers
The creative hook used was that of temptation. Temptation has always caused human beings to lose their resistance power and fall for it. It started way back at the time of human evolution. Adam fell for the forbidden fruit in a bid to explore and seek knowledge. Temptations lure everyone, only this time, the form has changed.
In a small wooden carton, we sent across a real APPLE (with hay around it, just like the way it is packaged to ship) with the message – “Great temptation has always caused man to fall for it. Adam fell for the forbidden fruit; now it’s your turn.”
Upon lifting the lid, you will find the Cruze brochure + a letter + response devise. The letter will explain about the temptations that Cruze creates. And hence, enticing him/her to test drive/book for it.
The responses cannot be shared due to confidentiality issues.
February 5th, 2010 at 10:32 am
great work yaar. any ideas on how many Cruzes are selling? any way to differentiate on how much has the DM affected the sales vs how much has traditional advertising?
February 9th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Can we see bigger JPGs?
February 9th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Hey some questions
How was the DM sent? Was it couriered or hand-delivered?
I am wondering how a perishable item was considered. Its OK if it was hand-delivered but then what was the reach. One city? Or PAN India?
You were expecting a 7% response. I am curious to know what was the basis of this figure? To the best of my knowledge a response rate of 2-3% in DM is acceptable. I am surprised you were expecting a 7% response which makes it 26.39 people responding out of 377. It makes me curious what the response was. Its OK if you cannot share the response but would it be possible for you to share if it exceeded 7% or not. Because one of the benefits of doing a DM activity is that the response is measurable.
February 10th, 2010 at 6:26 am
HNI golfers? this car is priced at roughly 11-14 lakhs, dont you think a slightly wider audience could have also worked? or did you want to build exclusivity around the brand?
February 10th, 2010 at 10:11 am
Guys first of all thanx for the response and feedback. Ill attempt to answer your questions in this post.
@takesh – all i can tell you is that the cruze is doing pretty well for GM. the spark, cruze and now the beat are the game changers for GM in india. Consumers have taken well to it and if you happen to test drive the Cruze you will know … its fantastic for that price. Try it. Also, i dont think there is any point in measuring traditional advertising Vs. this direct mail activity as this was done on a very small base as compared to the mass media campaign. So one cant really comment.
@Yogee – The DM was hand delivered. the apples were procured locally and inserted and then the DM bubble wrapped. A tedious process but then who said DM was easy. We have also done DM’s with Pizza’s in it. It was an internal piece for people at ogilvy the thought being “Fresh Ideas” … So buddy, perishable items can be used if you are willing to plan and take pains in its execution.
This exercise was a pilot we did. As the case suggests, we had done a small research with golfers with whome this went down pretty well. So this in turn boost our confidance to expect higher responses.
All i can tell you at this point is that we got a much higher response than what we expected. Yes, generally a traditional DM campaign does get responses of 2-3% but thats not a given. There are exceptions.
February 13th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
@ridhi – thats right. didnt want to position it wider for the dm activity. also this was a test with a carefully selected group. We are planning more such groups in future.
February 14th, 2010 at 12:22 am
for a 14 lakh car you targeted the HNI Golfers. Who would you target for a 36lakh car? and a 60 lakh car?
June 5th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
the same base probably would also go a bit higher.
its tough getting authentic databases from the market.