2021 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

CHALLENGE
The Subaru Outback is the flagship of the Subaru range. So, the launch of the all-new 2020 Subaru Outback was the biggest campaign of the year for the brand, and needed to drive sales and continue to build awareness of 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, Zulu Alpha Kilo also needed to appeal to an entirely new and younger target.

INSIGHTS
The Outback has always been known for its hard working ruggedness. Upgrades to the 2020 model only added to its credentials. The new Outback is uncannily suited to taking on Canada’s vast terrain.

The Outback is a unique vehicle – neither a wagon nor an SUV. It’s simply an Outback. So rather than make a false comparison to another vehicle, Zulu Alpha Kilo wanted to compare the Greatest Outback of All Time (the GOOAT) to something that was also well suited to tackling Canada’s challenging environment: an actual, honest-to-goodness mountain goat.

EXECUTION
The competition between the GOOAT and goat debuted in broadcast, online and cinema. Whether it’s going up the mountain or down the mountain, the duel between Symmetrical Full Time All-Wheel Drive and hooves was just the beginning of the rivalry.

Spend was reduced on traditional media in order to amplify the rivalry in digital and social, putting significant support behind creative elements that focused on engagement. Subaru was one of the first car brands to leverage Facebook polls that pitted features against goat attributes. One poll compared the Outback's 15 speakers against the goat's one speaker (its mouth). Another compared the Napa Leather against the goat's shaggy wool.

The GOOAT's main competitor even made its way to the 2020 Auto Show for what we are sure was a world first: an interactive staring contest between potential buyers and the goat.

RESULTS
The GOOAT campaign 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 and year-on-year increases, 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
Account Team: David Tremblay, Tony Ciccia, James Farquharson
Planning Team: Tim Hopkins, Carly Miller
Agency Producer: Revital Grunberg, Houng Ngui, Allison Dick
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