Mumbai India — With increased competition across dominant social platforms like Facebook, resulting in a higher cost per lead (CPL), automotive brand ŠKODA AUTO India tapped PHD – its media agency partner and part of the Omnicom Media Group network – to optimize campaign efficiencies and generate a higher number of average daily leads at reduced CPL from its Facebook campaigns.

ŠKODA AUTO hoped to reach a broader and more profiled set of audiences via Facebook – car owners, first-time car buyers and enthusiasts alike, to generate qualified leads that can be converted down the consumer journey. The automotive brand faced a challenge with its objective of optimizing performance in terms of cost per lead efficiently. Manoeuvring on Lifetime Budgets at CBO instead of Daily Budgets at ABO was a hurdle it was looking to overcome whilst optimizing daily lead count and maintaining scale.

To streamline efficiencies across campaigns, the two companies collaborated with Pixis – whose powerful AI infrastructure helps make marketing effortlessly intelligent, agile and scalable for brands. Pixis deployed its Governance AI system, which uses AI models trained with billions of data points to allocate the bid budget on a daily basis dynamically.

With its data-driven recommendations, Pixis’ AI supported PHD Media in delivering sharper results on ŠKODA AUTO’s KPIs – helping the auto brand make the leap in its performance marketing campaigns. Upon implementing the recommendations to optimize lead generation, ŠKODA AUTO India was able to reach the desired high-quality audiences at the right time.

The results outperformed the quality of leads coming into the system, increased savings in terms of prospects, increased the average daily leads by nearly 17% for ŠKODA Superb and improved the CPL by approximately 10%. Similarly, the campaign around ŠKODA’s avant-garde Octavia also gained a 28% increase in average daily leads with Pixis’ AI infrastructure helping scale the campaign by almost 25%.

Speaking of the collaboration, Bharat Khatri, chief digital officer for Omnicom Media Group APAC, said, “With innovation and creativity at its core, PHD Media believes that the key to a cookie-less future lies in leveraging the right technology stack and interpreting a combination of different approaches to support all the key tasks around audience selection, targeting, governance, personalization, and most importantly, measurement.”

Khatri added, “With Pixis’ AI, we were able to bring down our acquisition cost drastically while maintaining scale. Pixis’ easy-to-use AI plugin helped our team deploy advanced people-powered, supervised AI and ML models that improved our cost per lead by 10% and also increased average daily leads volume by 17%.”

Meanwhile, Tarun Jha, head of marketing for ŠKODA AUTO India, shared, “With an infinite number of customer touchpoints today, reaching out to the right people at the right time remains imperative. We’re pleased with the campaign results and look forward to exploring more such opportunities with Pixis, guided by the counsel of our partners – PHD Media.”

Speaking on the collaboration, Neel Pandya, CEO of Pixis for Europe APAC, said, “We’re extremely happy to see how PHD Media leveraged the Pixis AI infrastructure to garner incredible performance on ŠKODA AUTO’s latest marketing campaigns. It’s a moment of true excitement and honour to continue working with PHD to facilitate greater business growth for ŠKODA, and other clients, through our AI systems.”

Mumbai, India — Automobile brand ŠKODA AUTO in India has unveiled its newest integrated campaign to promote the launch of its latest sedan, ŠKODA SLAVIA. The campaign was done in collaboration with advertising company Publicis Groupe.

Entitled ‘It’s All That Really Matters’, the campaign is built on the central thought – the car that’s in your heart is the car that really matters. The TVC traces the journey of the protagonist who has been creating his dream car since he was a toddler until he discovers the SLAVIA. Created with an impeccable balance of contemporary stylish design, stunning interiors, great performance and innovative technology, the SLAVIA breathes new air into the sedan market. The campaign is a part of ŠKODA AUTO’s 2.0 ethos of ‘Made of what really matters.’

Tarun Jha, head of marketing of ŠKODA AUTO India, said that they wanted to revive the decrease in the sedan segment and bring back the love for sedans.

“ŠKODA SLAVIA, with its stunning design and class-leading features, is the perfect product that will create the desirability of owning the sedan. We tapped into a universal human insight that as a child the first car we imagine is a sedan and not any other body type. This love and fascination continue all our lives,” Jha said.

Simultaneously, Vikash Chemjong, national creative director of Publicis Worldwide India, spoke about the campaign, sharing, “With all that the SLAVIA had on offer – be it the space, the style, the power and the presence, it felt so right to say that it was the car that we always had in mind since we were kids. Without quite knowing it was the car we always wanted.”

The campaign will tap all essential channels for its nationwide launch, including a strong presence across national and regional television, print, outdoor, radio, digital and social media.

Mumbai, India – As ŠKODA AUTO India marks its 20th anniversary, the automotive brand has launched a new activation which creates one of the highest 3D projections in the country on the sheer rock-face of the Rohtang-La at 10,942 feet above sea level. 

Titled ‘Conquering the Unconquerable’, the activation takes the concept of experiential marketing, and its installation establishes its stronghold in the country by literally establishing its presence on the mighty canvas of Rohtang-La. Through this, the automotive brand is creating a legacy in India that rests on 20 years of innovation by using mesmerizing art projected on a mountain face at an altitude that almost reaches the sky. 

Zac Hollis, ŠKODA AUTO’s brand director, shared that they wanted to set a benchmark and push the boundaries to achieve something beyond imagination. 

“Conquering the Unconquerable is a campaign that is an ode to the brand’s journey and potential. A tribute to ŠKODA being a fun, dynamic, creative, and passion-driven brand,” said Hollis.

Meanwhile, Tarun Jha, ŠKODA AUTO’s head of marketing, commented that the idea of ‘Conquering the unconquerable’ was to create history by taking on the mightiest and craft a story on achieving the unimaginable. 

“With this campaign, we are truly conquering the unconquerable, alongside our partners, who have been a constant source of support and inspiration. We are confident that the beauty of this activation will touch hearts and minds across our consumer base,” said Jha.

The activation’s communications, strategy, and creatives were spearheaded by PHD Media India and Omnicom Media Group India’s content arm, OMG Content.

Monaz Todywalla, PHD Media’s chief executive officer, shared that the campaign is defined by superlative thought and augmented by superlative action that has been conceptualized on the back of the power of imagination. 

“It’s a pleasure for Team PHD to be involved in achieving a feat of this magnitude; partnering with ŠKODA AUTO India to help them Make The Leap with innovation, and we’re excited to witness the response to the eminence of creativity in play at such an impressive scale,” said Todywalla. 

Shailja Saraswati, OMG’s chief content officer, believes that great concepts spark great content, and when those concepts are translated into reality, they know that there is potential for true impact. 

“It has been an incomparable experience working on this unique activation, and we are certain that together as partners we have all conquered the unconquerable in more ways than one,” said Saraswati.