Armband

Background

To promote the seven-seater VW Touran, Volkswagen offered families the chance to win expert coaching for their junior football team at the David Beckham Academy when they went for a test drive.

Idea

To launch the competition, Volkswagen sent out a box mailer containing a David Beckham Academy and Volkswagen co-branded captain’s armband. This was intended to capture the whole family’s imagination by inspiring both the parents and their kids to think about what could happen if they went for a test drive and won expert coaching at the Academy. It was also a piece of direct mail that had high perceived value. After all, not only could kids have something to show off to their friends, but dads could also put it to good use. Indeed, a day after it landed, it was found on eBay being sold for £12.50.

This mailer was followed up by an integrated campaign that involved adshels, press and posters at children’s football clubs - featuring David Beckham as a young boy (sourced from his mum), a local radio ad and experiential. The VW dealerships even set up a ‘Boot it like Beckham’ point of sale game whereby kids had to kick the ball into the back of a VW Touran to win a prize. The campaign was further supported online by Tribal DDB who created a website featuring The David Beckham Academy Touran challenge at touran-dba.co.uk/_flash/games.html

Results

A huge uplift in test-drives and vastly increased awareness of the VW Touran with the target market.

Target Audience

Families on the VW database.

Size

15,000 packs

Our Thoughts

The bit that makes this pack really work is the captain’s armband. You can see Ricky Gervais slipping it on over an elbow in an episode of ‘The Office’ and calling out, ‘On me ‘ead, son.’ It rekindles those buried fantasies you too may once have had of playing for a great football club like L.A.Galaxy and making millions from endorsing Gillette razors, adidas and, um, the VW Touran.