2021 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Objectives & Challenges

The Subaru Outback is the flagship product of the entire Subaru lineup. So, the launch of the all-new 2020 Outback was the biggest campaign of the year for the brand.

Campaign goals were to drive sales at launch and continue to build awareness for the brand. The target was to generate 5,000 leads and deliver 2,500 sales of the new vehicle in the first three months from launch.

To significantly increase sales, and to rejuvenate the customer base for the future, the team needed to appeal to an entirely new and younger target.

Insight & Strategy

Getting new buyers to consider an Outback meant education. In the car category, that usually means comparisons to similar models. But the Outback doesn’t fit into easy boxes. People think it’s a wagon, but it’s not. And it doesn’t fit into the mainstream SUV Category. Its uniqueness is its strength – and its greatest challenge.

That product truth led to the insight: regardless of segment, the Outback’s rugged and unique capability made it the perfect vehicle for Canada’s challenging environment. So rather than make a false comparison to another vehicle, Subaru compared the Greatest Outback of All Time (GOOAT) to something better known for tackling the toughest Canadian landscapes: an actual, honest-to-goodness mountain goat.

Execution

The integrated campaign drew comparisons to the ability of a mountain goat to traverse difficult terrain, carry big loads and its ability to endure tough conditions, but the Outback was always the triumphant winner.

Our 360-approach included traditional broadcast, print and OOH elements in addition to an upweighted investment in digital, social and earned media to better attract a younger buyer.

The seemingly ridiculous comparison allowed the team to demonstrate Outback’s capability in uniquely memorable ways, like in the brand’s first-to-market paid Facebook polls that compared hoof power vs. horsepower or in print ads that featured goat eyesight vs. the Outback’s superior EyeSight safety technology or in our 50/50 brochures that outlined all Outback features in the first half and goat features in the back half, from paint colours to wool colours.

The comparisons were endless and allowed Subaru to stand out in a segment trodden with well-trodden tropes.

Results

The GOOAT campaign has resulted in the most successful Outback launch in 25 years. In each of the five months following the launch, Subaru experienced its best-ever sales, with monthly increases ranging from 8.6% to an incredible +78%.

From October through to the end of February, 4,613 vehicles were sold – almost double the ambitious sales targets. All of that was achieved in a declining auto market category; sales were down 3% for the category in 2019.

Following the launch of the campaign, web sessions increased by 107%, build and price conversions increased by 55% and conversions from dealer searches increased by 57%.

In the final 2019 brand tracking, Subaru achieved its highest-ever prompted and unprompted scores for the brand while the Outback achieved an all-time high for awareness at 60%.

Credits

Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
Chief Creative Officer: Zak Mroueh
Creative Directors: Susie Lee, Jonathan Smith
Art Directors: Michael Siegers, Alem Duranovic
Writers: Jonah Flynn, Jackson Kemp
Agency Producer: Revital Grunberg, Houng Ngui, Allison Dick
Account Team: David Tremblay, Tony Ciccia, James Farquharson
Planning Team: Tim Hopkins, Carly Miller
Developer: Kyle Collins
Client: Subaru Canada
Clients: Ted Lalka, Cynthia Bouris, Gary Sappleton, Curtis Lang
French Agency: Rinaldi
Media Agency: OMD
Media Team: Michelle Jairam, Martine Farrow, Cobi Grein
Production House: Spy Films
Director: Fatal Farm
Production House Executive Producer: Natalia Winardi
Production House Producer: Vanessa Lenarduzzi
Director of Photography: Todd Duym
Editing Company: Zulubot
Editor: Jay Baker
Online: Alter Ego
Special Effects: Darren Achim/Eric Perrella
Animation: Ian Flaig, Tom Wolstenholme
Colourist: Eric Whipp
Post Producer: Pallavi Joshi-Firby
Audio Post Facility/Music House: Eggplant Music & Sound
Audio Director: Adam Damelin
Producer: Nicola Treadgold
Engineer: Nathan Handy
Photographer: Noel Hendrickson.
Studio Artist: Jeannette Downes
Retouching: Brandon Dyson