Audi
We made engineering something you could feel, widening Audi’s lead by 520%.
Audi led as the #1 luxury car brand by only a thin margin of 647 vehicles, in a category where every brand’s specs had converged. But average consumers don’t talk about specs. To grow the leadership position, Audi needed a new playbook that resonated on a more emotional level. Over three years, we helped the category truly feel the Audi difference through art, experience and architecture.
#1
luxury brand in Canada by sales
520%
growth in leadership vs. next competitor
27.7%
increase in sales
Opportunity
Connect with drivers to grow a vulnerable leadership position.
In 2022, Audi became the top-selling luxury brand, but the margin was a razor-thin 647 vehicles. In a category where rankings shift on a single launch, it was a vulnerable lead.
Top competitors were delivering comparable horsepower, acceleration and driver assistance. The signals buyers used to judge engineering leadership no longer separated anyone. Audi’s opportunity was to reach drivers on a deeper level.
“Choosing and driving a vehicle is an emotional experience.”
Joseph Ottorino, Head of Marketing, Audi
Solution
Stop selling specs. Sell the feeling that only Audi could produce.
Focus groups with owners rarely mentioned horsepower or torque. They described a feeling: control, confidence, a calm. That feeling was deliberate, the accumulated result of how Audi builds a car. The engineering was already doing the work, but Audi had never claimed it.
Audi is engineered to make you feel.
We proved the feeling was physiological. We wired Coco Rocha with biometric sensors in a Q8 e-tron, and generative AI rendered her heart rate as artwork.
Then spread the sensation across the portfolio. We ran EVs and Audi Sport on a circuit, capturing driver heartbeats along the way.
And applied it at every level of the experience. At the AutoShow, Audi Haus embodied a space to be felt instead of read.
“I like the feeling when I drive. Smooth. Everywhere I touch it feels comfortable. Reliable.”
Audi owner, focus group
Impact
A vulnerable lead became a settled position.
The gap over Audi’s closest competitor grew from 647 vehicles to more than 4,000, and Audi led the category in consideration ahead of every competitor in the set. All while Audi’s investment stayed flat for three years.
