A NEW BRAND WINNER
Excellent communication strategy ensures awareness and impacts on sales
Among the many motoring awards programmes in South Africa, the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards — powered by WesBank — is still a relative newcomer. #CarsAwards, as it is also known, is now three years old and was established with the purpose of directly influence buying decisions. Has it done so? “CarsAwards is not just about handing over a trophy to a manufacturer,” explains project manager Hannes Oosthuizen. “It’s a six-month programme that starts with semifinalist selection in September and only officially ends a month after the winners are announced in January, when the billboards — erected by Cars.co.za for each of the winners — have run their course.
“Throughout the programme, we have a communication strategy with the public who are also involved as their input accounts for 50% of the final product category scores. We believe nobody knows more about what it’s like to live with a car than the people who own them. This is why we created the Ownership Satisfaction survey to provide us with that input,” says Oosthuizen.
How have the results impacted local sales? “We create a huge amount of awareness for the winners, but for ultimate impact the brands that win have to incorporate the award achievement in their marketing. Suzuki has done this very well.”
Megan MacDonald from Suzuki Auto South Africa explains: “We have included the fact that we’ve twice won Brand of the Year in all our communications, both marketing and internal and external communication. We attribute a good portion of our magnificent 57% increase in year-on-year sales last year to the Cars.co.za brand of the year title.”
Oosthuizen adds: .“We’ve been fortunate in having the opportunity to create a modern awards programme from scratch. We’re thrilled with the public engagement and the impact achieved thus far — but there’s much more to come!”