Is This the Best Printed Content Marketing Ever?

When luxury automotive brand Audi set out to create a powerful content marketing strategy, they did it in a big way. According to Tasneem Mahbub in Print Power, they knew they wanted to publish truly innovative and meaningful branded content that would engage their upscale audience.

“This content also needed to bring warmth and a more relaxed and human tone to the brand, while also reflecting the auto maker’s distinct philosophy and set of values,” Mahbub explains. “And, of course, the magazine and associated content are there to promote brand loyalty and drive both new and repeat sales.”

Did they succeed? Boy, did they ever.

Their three prong approach to brand publishing – the 100-page Audi Magazine; the online prospect site Audi Update; and the fan portal Audi Magazine app – has achieved some truly impressive results.

According to Mahbub, in one year alone “more than 60,000 car sales were directly attributable to behaviour prompted by the magazine.”

Not surprisingly, the magazine was named Best Automotive title two different years at the International Content Marketing Awards. Rightly so, as the ROI on the magazine, according to Audi’s media agency, stands at more than 10:1. (Brand publishing is showing enormous potential to drive high ROI; Audi’s results are proof positive.)

The multi-channel approach has created some serious synergy. “Two issues of Audi Update generated 1,761 test drives (0.5% of audience), 3,283 dealer visits (1.0%) and 1,256 car sales (0.4%),” Mahbub notes, adding that 95% of readers report spending more than 30 minutes with each issue. Complemented magazine and the online site, the iPad app has 6,000 subscribers as well.

Clearly the brand has cracked the code to print and the luxury reader, and is working its branded print to great effect. Congrats to the brand on some truly epic brand publishing.