Mazda's 'Defy Convention' campaign wins Dadi award

Mazda's innovative 'Defy Convention' quarterly e-newsletter to consumers won the 'Best use of Email' category at last week's 2012 Dadi awards ceremony.

The Dadis (The Drum awards for the digital industries) recognise and reward digital excellence.  Now in
their sixth year, the annual modern marketing and media magazine's awards bring together major companies, agencies and individuals at the forefront of digital and provide them with the opportunity to showcase their skills and prove how effective their digital strategies have been in the previous year.

Presenting The Dadi award for Best use of Email at the Emirates Stadium event, Chairman of the 13-strong judging panel, Phil Jones, commented, "Mazda's e-newsletter demonstrated well above industry-average results and an unusual and highly segmented approach to reaching its target audience."

With the retail car market in the UK showing only modest growth, Mazda was determined to buck the trend by creating a dialogue with existing owners to confirm its 'defy convention' strategy and prepare customers for the new CX-5, all-new Mazda6 and their ground-breaking Skyactiv technology. The e-newsletters were optimised for mobile platforms and coded to dynamically adapt to the recipients' tablet, smartphone or desktop.

Customers were segmented into three retail groups, plus a fleet decision-makers group, so that the mobile optimised e-newsletters could be personalised effectively, while promoting Mazda's core attributes - stylish, insightful and spirited - and encouraging interaction by pushing owners towards the Mazda website and its social media channels such as Facebook and YouTube.

"Thanks to months of dedicated hard work by our close-knit team and our friends at balloon dog, our eCRM e-newsletter campaign has been hugely successful. The precise targeting, the perfect combination of look and tone, and the stylish creative execution brought our new Mazda CX-5 and its Skyactiv technology vividly to life," said Shirley Aston-Tang, Customer Relationship Manager, Mazda UK.

Designed to deliver payback over time, rather than immediately, Mazda's Defy Convention dialogue e-newsletter in 2012 has proven to be a flexible, cost-effective method of communication without compromising on creativity. 

The email campaign has been remarkably well received - with 'open' rates of 45.7 per cent and click-through rates of 49.3 per cent (compared with an industry average of 14.5 and 2.7 per cent respectively) and bounce back rates of 5.25 per cent and unsubscribe rates of just 0.54 per cent.

Posted in: Award,Best use of Email,Dadi Awards 2012,Defy Convention,Drum Awards for the Digital Industries,E-newsletter,International,Mazda,Mazda UK,Phil Jones,Shirley Aston-Tang,Skyactiv Technology