Cramer-Krasselt - Chicago, Illinois

Cramer-Krasselt and Porsche Welcome the Panamera to the Family

The Challenge:

Last fall, Porsche unveiled the $100,000+ Panamera, its first-ever entry into the highly competitive luxury sedan market. In the best of times, this new four-door sports car would have its obstacles. But in the midst of the worst recession in American history, the Panamera faced something else altogether.

To be successful, Porsche would have to take an extremely limited budget (by segment standards) and create awareness and relevance among prospects who had never considered Porsche before – either because the brand never had an entry in this segment or because they never saw Porsche as being relevant to them.  So instead of selling a just another luxury car, Porsche Cars North America and its agency Cramer-Krasselt/Chicago set out to sell a set of principles – a belief system that has guided the Porsche brand for six decades – to reinforce the ties insiders had with the brand and help outsiders discover they had more in common with Porsche than they knew.

The Campaign:

Many prospects saw Porsche as a status symbol, a display of wealth and a brand that was not for them to begin with, but especially during this socio-economic climate. But Porsches aren’t jewelry or showpieces. They are true sports cars built for an unparalleled driving experience and rooted in a belief system of purity, performance and authenticity. This Porsche philosophy drove every point of consumer contact. The campaign, “Welcome to the Family,” illustrated the brand essence and philosophy while extending the Panamera as the next branch in the family tree. In order to ground the Panamera in beliefs that were relevant and relatable to the prospect, fifty historic Porsches were gathered for the development of TV, print and digital creative that fully demonstrated the 60-year evolution of the brand.

Branded content swerved away from traditional luxury car stories to content that celebrated on-going design, technology and innovation. A 30-minute documentary, “Welcome to the Family,” produced in partnership with IFC, featured Porsche “family members” who discussed their love for their cars, the drive and the performance that only Porsche can offer.  These stories were extended online. The Panamera website (www.porscheusa.com/family) included a user-generated “Family Tree” where owners and enthusiasts could upload their own stories. Several behind-the-scenes videos distributed on YouTube, Facebook and a custom video channel on cNet.com helped generate excitement and further rooted the Panamera in its heritage.

The Results:

• Demand for the Panamera is larger than the supply. U.S. sales are trending to beat the first year forecast with 65% of sales attributed to former competitive model owners.
• The Panamera website has had over 550,000 unique visits to date with users spending over 4 minutes per visit.  The inspiring, genuine user-generated content area on the Family Tree has grown to nearly 2,500 posts with more stories added every day. 
• The virally distributed videos have broken all Porsche video records on YouTube with close to 600,000 views. cNet.com’s custom Panamera video page resulted in a 9% click-thru rate - 175% over the auto industry benchmark.
• Lead generation surpassed 100,000 qualified leads – more than the Cayenne, Porsche’s number one selling vehicle.