Radio and TV drive Citroën campaign

Client Citroën C5
Agency OMD UK
Planner Peter Wood

The strategic challenge for OMD was to ensure that awareness and purchase consideration increases for the C5 were maintained in year two.

Strategy
The agency realised that focusing on the lives of the brand's audience of "user-choosers" (those able to choose their company car) was the only way to achieve the objectives on a modest budget.

IPA TouchPoints mapping allowed OMD to plan media to penetrate the cocoon of the audience's car and working day while also reaching them in their leisure time.

The mood diary function of the IPA's TouchPoints 2 also enabled the agency to plan advertising to suit the audience's mood in the two core strategic areas of work and leisure.

Activity
TouchPoints mapping showed a high correlation of people being in their car and listening to the radio through much of the day, with a significant peak first thing in the morning and levels of alertness rising steadily and peaking around midday.

This led Citroën to serve product-led, functional radio ad messages across these time periods, highlighting the benefit of the unique Snow Motion traction control system in increasing safety on snowy, icy or wet roads.Leisure-time mapping showed the audience was more relaxed in the evening, so the target audience was serviced with brand-led TV ads.

These showcased the C5 driving over snow-covered mountain roads, reminding the audience of its sleek shape, road-going poise and overall quality, as well as promoting the model's USP - the Snow Motion system.

Results
BAIT brand consideration tracking showed perception of the C5 improved after the campaign. Spontaneous awareness increased from 10% to 15% between January and April. Perception that the C5 "offered a good level of safety" jumped 13% between January and April, and the perception that Citroën made high-quality, reliable cars leapt 32% in the same period.

Peter Wood, Communications planner, OMD UK

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk