A winning brand strategy only gets more important, says marketing director Angelo

Audi returned to the Super Bowl this year with “Commander,” a television commercial that showed off the all-new Audi R8. It was the latest in a series of high-profile marketing efforts by a company that, over the past eight years, has fostered rising regard for its brand.

Loren Angelo joined Audi as communications and advertising manager, and was elevated to director of marketing in 2013, where he has remained a driving force behind Audi’s brand image. He oversees brand strategy, advertising and media development, retail marketing, experiential initiatives/partnerships, CRM, branded entertainment and the Audi social media strategy.

Fresh off the Super Bowl ad, Angelo discussed Audi advertising, the brand, Audi’s newest products and whether Audi still can be considered a “challenger” brand:

Q: Remind us of your background before you came to Audi.

Angelo: My career really has been based in advertising and marketing. Through the years I developed a variety of technology, automotive and CPG experience, launching campaigns for the likes of IBM, Compaq, Mercedes-Benz and GMC, all with a focus on brand building. I also worked for major agencies including J. Walter Thompson, Ammirati & Puris as well as Merkley & Partners.

Q: Audi led its recent surge in the U.S. market with its brand. Describe that effort.

Angelo: We’ve been able to take the Audi brand and redefine it in America as the progressive luxury choice through provocative advertising, sophisticated partnerships, and by authentic actions in social media that have given the brand a bold tone of voice.

Q: Given how sales have continued to surge and have moved Audi closer to the U.S. luxury-market leaders, what is the status of the Audi brand here now?

Angelo: We need to continue to challenge. That’s what allowed us to drive our position and to turn the brand around beginning in 2008.  A challenger brand doesn’t mean we only challenge the competition, but we communicate how we challenge the status quo and challenge complacency in our industry and in culture.

That type of approach keeps us nimble and allows us to continue to convey that Audi is a brand that pushes the edge. We see that in our motorsports program, in our leadership in piloted-driving technology, and in new products that come to market with leading-edge technologies such as the virtual cockpit. Those are all things that we celebrate in our advertising and marketing.

Q: What has the A3 Sedan, introduced last year, done for the Audi brand—and vice versa?

Angelo: A3 has given us an incredible opportunity to speak to a new audience of first-time luxury buyers, bringing in almost 70 percent new consumers who have come from the mass market. It allows us to give those buyers a chance to experience the new Audi with leading design, technologies and our sophisticated new environments with our premium dealership network. We get to expose millennials to a brand they’ve been aspiring to for years.

Q: Similarly, what has the R8 meant for the Audi brand in the U.S. market?

Angelo: It has allowed us to draw a line in the sand and make it very clear that there was a new luxury player in the game – having a supercar with that stopping power in our portfolio made a powerful brand statement. We started advertising it in the Super Bowl, and it has continued to be a halo for the brand, allowing us also to talk about our pioneering aluminum space frame, our leadership in motorsports and that this car shares more than 50 percent of its parts with the R8 LMS racer, so our consumers are really driving a race car every day when they get behind the wheel of the R8. And clearly, from a design standpoint, R8 sets an emotional tone for the brand that conveys the excitement and enthusiasm that inspires every Audi on the road.

Q: Now, of course, you’re trying to create the same kind of synergies with marketing of the Audi family of crossovers and SUVs in a market where these segments are increasingly popular.

Angelo: One thing Audi consistently stands for is our driving performance. Our leadership in engineering, which our people work for each and every day, comes to life not only in our sports cars but also in our SUV portfolio. Get behind the wheel of the [new Audi Q7] and see how the engineers took out over 400 pounds of weight to create a more agile driving experience.  It’s like driving a sports sedan which once again demonstrates that there are no compromises that come in our SUVs.  Further confidence is built with the knowledge that every Audi SUV comes with the legendary quattro [four-wheel drive] system.

Q: Soon you’ll be selling in the U.S. a new, improved version of the Q5 crossover that will be built in Mexico, Audi’s first factory in North America. What marketing challenges and opportunities does that present?

Angelo: We see any new product that’s coming as a tremendous opportunity regardless of where that vehicle is produced.   More important, it is further emphasis of the global growth of Audi in our goal to become the number one premium brand.  These vehicles will be made to the highest-level standard that Audi brings. The new Q5 will enjoy the same level of investment in training and development that we do at each of the new factories we’re building around the globe.  Teams of individuals have been training on standards and production precision in Ingolstadt for many months now.

The fact that one of the highest-volume vehicles we sell in the U.S. is going to be produced on this continent gives us a great opportunity to show our leading-edge technology and design, and it will play a pivotal role in the success of the brand in the future.

Q: Professional marketers have become divided about the value of advertising with so-called “tentpole” events such as the Super Bowl, or of taking an “always on” approach that overwhelms the consumer with frequency and smaller efforts via social media. What’s your philosophy?

Angelo: Every brand has to evaluate its own priorities. For Audi, we still have a hill to climb in making consumers aware of our brand and getting them to consider Audi — or better-said put us on their shopping lists. I believe a combination of high profile programs combined with targeted continuity elements is a strategy that works for our brand.  We just finished the Super Bowl, we’ve got another Marvel film coming up [featuring the R8 and other Audi vehicles, Captain America: Civil War, due out May 6] and then the Emmy Awards again as the official automotive sponsor; all are parts of our plan to keep Audi in the conversation.

We are also focused on the frequency of our messaging. We are still outspent three-to-one on marketing by Mercedes-Benz and Lexus, so it’s important for us to identify those “always-on” platforms that luxury intenders are utilizing, and to have the data to help us identify those core properties to build a more consistent presence. We also are working more closely with dealer advertising around the country to make sure our media platforms are aligned for greater effectiveness.

Q: How do you continue to position Audi as a challenger brand if, going forward, Audi tries to challenge for leadership in U.S. luxury sales volume as well?

Angelo: Connecting culturally and keeping Audi in the American conversation will help drive us toward success.  One of the key focuses of our future strategy is built around the growing product portfolio, and leveraging that through marketing all the innovations that are coming, such as the Q7 or, in a few months, the new A4—or the new R8. Those include virtual cockpit, traffic jam assist, and other innovations that set Audi apart as the progressive luxury choice.

Associating those leading edge products and top technologies with our progressive brand position will draw new, engaged consumers to our brand.  By telling those stories on big media platforms, we highlight that Audi is the brand that is making investments and pushing ahead — staying true to what has made us successful thus far and not accepting the status quo.