Fairfax Media and Audi tablet app campaign drives advertising cut through

8th July 2015 An interactive tablet app campaign for luxury car brand Audi across The Sydney Morning Herald,The Age and Brisbane Times has achieved strong results in advertising effectiveness, according to a new study.

Conducted by leading research firm TNS, the study found that the campaign delivered strong results, with consumers exposed to the Audi TT campaign experiencing an uplift of 20% points for ad recall. This recall increased to 33% points for those that owned a luxury car.

Designed to support the pre-launch of the new Audi TT model in the Australian market, the campaign aimed to raise awareness among potential customers and showcase the luxury car’s key features using animated creative.

Full page rich media and in-article ad formats appeared across the tablet apps of the three mastheads. The ads utilised the tablet’s screen orientation capabilities so when viewed in portrait, users could tilt the device from side to side with animated creative showcasing the Audi TT’s exterior design. When viewed in landscape, the ad showed the car’s interior design, giving users the feeling they were seated inside the car.

The TNS study also revealed that:

• More than half (55%) liked Audi TT’s use of innovative creative that utilised the tablet device’s screen orientation. Those exposed experienced a significant uplift of 23% points, which increased to 43% points for those that owned a luxury car;
• The campaign successfully moved the audience through the purchase funnel, with research and purchase intent experiencing strong directional uplifts, up 31% and 45% respectively after exposure;
• The Audi TT ad also saw strong results in brand attribute measures. After campaign exposure the audience was twice as likely to agree that the Audi TT model is a car for ‘people like them’ and that they would recommend the car more than other brands.

Fairfax Media Mobile Commercial Manager Stewart Heys said: “The study demonstrates that with the combination of engaging creative and the right audience on Fairfax Media’s tablet app properties, Audi was able to meet its objectives for the TT pre-launch”.

“Fairfax is investing heavily in mobile products yet there are very few smartphone or tablet ad effectiveness studies available in the market. Fairfax is committed to building advertiser confidence in mobile advertising by working with partners like TNS to develop these much-needed effectiveness studies.”

Audi’s General Manager Marketing Communications, Kevin Goult said: “Audi is a brand driven by innovation in everything we do. It’s important that we are also looking for engaging and creative solutions in our advertising and this campaign is a strong example of that. The research results clearly demonstrate that tablet advertising delivers a powerful branding impact. The study has provided us with great insights on purchasing consideration and intent and we will be applying these learnings to future planning”.

The advertising effectiveness case study for the Audi TT campaign can be found here.

* Study methodology: A simultaneous control/exposed survey of 200 online panellists, with the survey covering category involvement, brand and creative diagnostics. Media consumption questions used to calculate the opportunity to see the advertising and determine ad exposure.