Volkswagen ID.4

Out of the brainstorm with Volkswagen, came the idea to highlight the ID.4's spaciousness as a USP to the car brand’s target group. In order for the right ad to reach the right audience, it was first important to better map out Volkswagen's target group. Through data-driven audience research, we were able to identify nine different subgroups within Volkswagen's target group - according to their interests. We created customised audiences based on signals these subgroups left in the Google Ecosystem. Think: which websites they visited and which apps they downloaded. By using such custom audiences, the targeting perfectly matched the characteristics of the corresponding sub-target group.

These subgroups laid the foundation for our YouTube advertising strategy. In collaboration with Volkswagen, we started creating the ads. In doing so, we utilised Ads Creative Studio: Google's brand new ad-focused platform, which allows ads to be personalised and scalable across devices. Our in-house innovation unit worked closely with our advertising experts - together they developed a creative 30-second ad template. This creative template consisted of a humouristic script, iconic for Volkswagen’s tone of voice. On top of that, we decided to add a game element to the format that personally addressed the viewer and prompted them to interact. This already started off at the beginning with the voice over addressing the subgroup ‘motorcyclists’: “Hey motor maniac, I have a game for you. How many tyres fit in the ID.4 trunk?”. Fun, playful and activating. Making the viewer participate and watch longer. In this template, the video itself as well as the text overlays, the voice-over and the time of day could be customised. In this way, a 'travel enthusiast' saw the spacious ID.4 trunk filled with backpacks and the trunk stuffed with children’s toys was served to 'parents'. The videos were thereby fully tailored to the consumer's viewing and search behaviour (and thus interests). Was the viewer from a specific subgroup served the ad late at night? Then the rest of the elements - think of the visuals and voice-over - were adjusted accordingly. The YouTube ads were therefore cost-efficiently personalised and made scalable for different viewers and devices.

Want to learn more about YouTube advertising? Download our free white paper - called YouTube for Advertisers.

By combining innovation with audience data and a smart distribution strategy, a brand can generate quality attention with YouTube advertising! The Volkswagen ID.4 case is a proof of that.

By testing a generic version of the ad and comparing it with personalised ones, we found that personalised ads increase the average view-through-rate by +11%! An important finding for advertisers. personalised > generic

In addition, the 1.5 million impressions across the nine different subgroups led to: 

• A cost-per-view that was -24% lower than the KPI 
• A view-through-rate that was +16% higher than the KPI 
• The view-through-rate of the daytime versions of the ads was +5% higher than the nighttime versions.
• The vertical versions - made specifically for mobile consumption - generated a +6% higher view-through-rate than the horizontal versions, which were also shown on mobile.

• Whereas YouTube previously consisted only of horizontal content, this data shows that this is about to change. Vertical content is working better and better, and this is something we need to capitalise on in the future!