How much better to have a single point of contact for everything – not only creation and production but also media planning, media buying and analytics. It would be a service that cuts through the immense complexity of multi-brand, multi-national advertising.
Running an international campaign across multiple countries in multiple media covering several sub-brand variations takes balls. But, even more than that, it requires everyone – from the creatives to the suits to the online specialists and media planners – to be singing from exactly the same hymn sheet. Get it wrong and it’s chaos. Get it right and the prize is a seamless campaign returning maximum sales for the minimum spend.
Multiple brands, multiple sectors
Axalta Refinish Europe is a leading supplier of automotive paints mainly serving professional bodyshops and repair businesses. To maximise market penetration across the entire continent it markets its products under three main brand names in addition to the global ‘Axalta’ brand. Altogether it operates nine separate sub-brands targeting different sectors with modified offerings to meet local needs and expectations.
(Three sentences in, and things are getting complicated already. But you ain’t seen nothing yet!)
Single point of contact
How much better to have a single point of contact for everything – not only creation and production but also media planning, media buying and analytics. It would be a service that cuts through the immense complexity of multi-brand, multi-national advertising.
In a nutshell, that was the proposition Dark Grey Europe put to Axalta Refinish Europe three years ago. And now the machine that client and agency have perfected together is purring as tailored communications on strategic and tactical levels are rolled out across the region again and again in a consistent – and consistently cost-effective – manner.
Let’s take a look at a typical Axalta Refinish Europe campaign.
Effective media planning takes an intimate knowledge of the audiences being targeted. It means knowing who they are, where to find them, how and when to reach out to them in the most cost-effective manner.
01. THE BRIEF
A typical campaign starts with a detailed marketing backgrounder document with all the key selling points of the product, target audiences, competition and so on. Axalta Refinish Europe’s sales managers also present directly to the account and creative teams so that every last detail of the product and marketing strategy can be dissected.
It’s common to present several campaign ideas in the first stage before refining them down to a single direction.
02. THE CREATIVE
Once the brief has been finalised, the creatives get to work. It’s common to present several campaign ideas in the first stage before refining them down to a single direction. Naturally the creatives have to take into consideration the target customers’ needs and motivations to craft effective propositions. In addition they need to be aware of language issues and local cultural sensitivities as all Axalta Refinish Europe campaigns run internationally. All campaigns must work across multiple media from print ads and brochures to landing pages, web banners and social media messaging. The result is a consistent message online and off, with the same key visuals being used throughout.
03. MEDIA PLANNING
Effective media planning takes an intimate knowledge of the audiences being targeted. It means knowing who they are, where to find them, how and when to reach out to them in the most cost-effective manner. Accurate and effective media planning also requires a detailed and up-to-date oversight of all media channels available. This includes traditional print as well as online and social media spheres. For Axalta Refinish Europe, Dark Grey Europe produces and places advertising materials that reach audiences across 98 separate channels, including print publications, websites and online magazines.
04. MEDIA BUYING
Each of these 98 channels has its own publication schedules, deadlines and cost structures. Just to add to the complexity, 23 countries in EMEA are involved, with numerous languages, currencies and different payment terms to navigate. After identifying the optimal time and channel to reach the Axalta customer audience, Dark Grey Europe then negotiates the best tariffs for lowest cost-per-contact on behalf of Axalta. It is a complex system of parallel and interdependent processes, developed through time and experience into a proven method for any large company with international media needs.
05. ANALYTICS
The scale and scope of production, media planning and buying is backed up by detailed feedback on the results of their media spend. This gives Axalta true transparency so they can establish the effectiveness of a campaign across all channels. Including Search Engine Advertising and Social Advertising in the mix enables countries to run and monitor campaigns across Google and social networks without requiring intensive local involvement. Dark Grey Europe also assists Axalta’s regional teams in building the experience they need with these emerging tools.
In the course of a year, we will handle more than 50 separate campaign themes for nine different brands. By the end, we will have more than 1,100 individual elements – ads, banners, campaign materials – all created, placed and tracked by Dark Grey Europe for Axalta.
Laser focus
According to Leen Schodts, Client Service Director: “In the course of a year, we will handle more than 50 separate campaign themes for nine different brands. By the end, we will have more than 1,100 individual elements – ads, banners, campaign materials – all created, placed and tracked by Dark Grey Europe for Axalta.” This is only possible by having the entire operation – online and offline – coordinated by the accounts team at Dark Grey. By having a helicopter view of every last detail of a campaign they drive not only production efficiencies but communication effectiveness too.
