Case Study: Daewoo

The Way It Was

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In 1994, the German car market was saturated with over 33 car manufacturers and importers in Germany.

Daewoo was totally unknown with a strange name and already stigmatized by the perception that Korean car brands were cheap and unreliable.

The Challenges

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Stiff competition and a saturated market had to be shaken up.

Germany has some of the strongest brand names worldwide: BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Audi and VW.

The Insights

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Car advertising was traditionally done rationally in Germany. But, we discovered that consumers were ready for an emotional approach instead. The main challenge was how to elicit emotion for this new brand with a strange foreign name.

The Actions

We chose to take an unconventional, emotional approach, breaking all automotive marketing rules.

Phase 1:Teaser campaign with red lips cheekily showing Germans how to pronounce [De:ju]. This campaign was deployed across Germany on billboards, in magazine and newspaper ads. A 1-800-Daewoo number in the ads gave consumers the chance to learn more about Daewoo.

Phase 2: Brand Campaign: The goal was to emotionalize and position Daewoo as friendly and reliable. The brand slogan was "Daewoo and You. The car. Your friend."

Phase 3: Product Campaign: Positioning emphasized reliability, safety and price/value relationship.

Phase 4: PR Campaign: Nationwide phased PR launch with over 400 journalist at a one week event demoing the product personally.

The Results

  • Over 25.000 calls at our toll free number in the first days after its launch.
  • 56% brand awareness after ten days. 47% after three months.
  • Received Advertising "OttoCar" Award at Frankfurt Motor Show in 1995.
  • 15,000 cars sold in 10 months and pver 10.000 leads generated for Daewoo dealers.