Silver Anvil Awards: Volkswagen GTI Becomes the World’s First Car Launched Exclusively on a Mobile Device

The PRSA 2010 Silver Anvil Awards podcast series features finalists from this year's program. The Silver Anvil Award recognizes complete public relations programs incorporating measurable and sound research, planning, execution and evaluation. These four areas represent the solid criteria by which senior practitioners judge each entry to ensure it meets the highest standards of performance in the profession.

 

Join us as Deb Radman, APR, PRSA Fellow, speaks with Alissa Blate, executive vice president and global consumer marketing practice leader at MWW Group, about the “Volkswagen GTI Becomes the World’s First Car Launched Exclusively on a Mobile Device” campaign.

 

In 2009, Volkswagen challenged its partners to develop a campaign for the 2010 GTI that would be as powerful, stylish and innovative as the car itself— all without paid media support of any kind. The resulting campaign made the GTI the first car in the world to be launched on an iPhone and used a mobile gaming strategy to reach the 25-40 year old technophile male target. The results included 800% ROI, $2 million in media value, the ranking of #1 “app” in 36 countries and a more than 80% increase in leads, quotes and test drives. 85 cars were sold as a direct result of the effort.