Schworer Volkswagen Brand Awareness Marketing Campaign

For over 18 years, Schworer Volkswagen has been a fixture in the Lincoln market. Seeking to enhance brand recognition, we crafted a marketing campaign elevating Schworer Volkswagen’s brand, highlighted by commercials with the vehicles in locations instantly recognizable to Lincolnites while adding humor to the Schworer name.

The Challenge

Schworer Volkswagen has been a staple in the Lincoln market, but it became clear that an Omaha Volkswagen dealership was grabbing Schworer’s market share. Feeling invisible in its off-the-beaten-path location, and feeling stuck in the cycle of LOUD car marketing, Schworer Volkswagen turned to Eleanor for a brand awareness campaign.

The first challenge was to take a dated brand and give it life. Our second challenge was to get Lincoln to know Schworer Volkswagen so car buyers know they don’t have to travel to another city for a Volkswagen dealership. Our final – and most important – goal was for Schworer Volkswagen to sell more cars.

Strategy

Our overall strategy was to connect the Lincoln community to the Schworer brand. We focused on highly recognizable places, with consistent actors who brought Schworer to Lincoln in smart and hilarious ways. We also strategically placed Schworer employees in our marketing campaigns to increase their visibility.

We refreshed the Schworer logo and made it visible on all new cars, social media, and advertising. We then created a brand awareness campaign that utilized Meta advertising, Hulu advertising, social media marketing, cable TV, radio, community engagement, and local outreach.

The campaign culminated with two fresh commercials. One prominently highlighting the dealership’s location and another that connected the “Schworer” actors to Lincoln places. Each commercial showcases Schworer Volkswagen’s vehicles in locations instantly recognizable to Lincolnites. From historic sites like the Haymarket to the Nebraska State Capitol, Morrill Hall, and more, local car buyers can see themselves in a Schworer Volkswagen vehicle. And that vehicle will keep them moving wherever the day takes them.

Results

In 2022, Schworer Volkswagen ranked with a 60.1% sales effectiveness. This number increased by 25.3% in 2023, bringing sales effectiveness up to 85.4%. The Schworer team credits our marketing campaign for the large increase in sales and sales effectiveness – it was the only change in strategy that happened for them in 2023. By comparison, in the U.S., Volkswagen sales have increased only 3% in the past year.

We also had over two million trackable impressions between radio and TV spots, streaming ads, movie theater commercials, and Meta social. But boy, oh boy was Schworer happy when they got their YOY results back from corporate.