Audi super-charges awareness for the e-tron and carbon neutral driving

Stylish, innovative and 100% electric, the e-tron is the flagship vehicle leading Audi's move to carbon neutral driving. It's designed for an audience whose natural home is LinkedIn: people with purchasing power, who are fascinated with innovation and have an appetite for leading the way. By targeting both e-mobility influencers and mass affluent auto buyers, Audi's LinkedIn campaign swiftly put the e-tron on pole position for those thinking about the future of driving. It generated a best-in-class (CTR) pf 2.31%, the highest conversion rate of all platforms, and an engagement rate of over 4%.

The Challenge

• Reach the e-tron's target audience of premium auto buyers with an interest in innovation and e-mobility
• Position Audi as a leader in carbon neutral driving
• Raise awareness of the e-tron
• Drive qualified visits to the Audi website

Inspiring Innovation

LinkedIn's Carousel Ad format provided the ideal vehicle for showcasing the e-tron's combination of innovation and stylish design. Audi used elegant photography to illustrate features like virtual mirrors, which provide a digitally enhanced version of the driver's surroundings, the e-tron's state-of-the-art cockpit display, and its ultra-fast charging technology.

Presenting new technology with visual impact helped to drive an extremely strong engagement rate of over 4%, generating extended discussions around topics like battery life and the benefits of cutting down the time it takes to charge a vehicle. "The insights we've generated from the quality of the discussions on LinkedIn have helped us to tailor our campaign messaging and keep increasing engagement", says Cristina de Blasio, Media Manager at Audi Spain. "We've also generated valuable data on the types of audiences engaging with the e-tron which is driving our understanding of the target market."

Engaging carbon neutral drivers at scale

LinkedIn's audience and targeting capabilities were ideally suited to the e-tron's target audience of drivers with purchasing power and an appetite for innovation. By using LinkedIn's bespoke mass affluent segment, Audi could reach these premium drivers at scale. Parallel campaigns targeting e-mobility influencers through their membership of LinkedIn Groups helped to build valuable word of mouth.

"LinkedIn is by far the most suitable platform to drive awareness of Audi's move to 100% electric, carbon neutral driving," explains de Blasio. It's an audience with high purchasing power and an environment where such people have an appetite for discussing innovation and technology."

This combination of audience and mindset delivered super-charged results for the e-tron's launch on LinkedIn. The CTR of 2.32% was higher than any other platform used in the campaign, and far exceeded auto benchmarks on LinkedIn. LinkedIn also drove the highest conversion rate in terms of website visitors fitting the target audience profile.

Results

• CTR of 2.31% exceeded both the auto benchmark for LinkedIn and the CTR of other platforms used in the campaign
• Engagement rate of over 4%
• LinkedIn delivered the strongest conversion rate of all platforms in terms of site visits from people fitting Audi's campaign profile

About Audi

Audi is one of the world's leading premium automotive manufacturers, drawing on experience gained during over 100 years of innovation on the road, rally stage and race circuit.