Tribal Worldwide wins AOR appointment for Volkswagen in Singapore

Volkswagen Group Singapore has named Tribal Worldwide Singapore as its integrated creative agency of record, following a pitch.

The pitch began in October and is believed to have included Proximity and Ogilvy & Mather*, according to published reports and Campaign sources. The agency declined to confirm the competitors, and the client has not yet responded to a request for details.

Tribal held VW’s digital duties from 2010 to 2013. In 2014, TSLA won the creative duties from The Gang, following a pitch, but it's unclear who the incumbent on the digital business is**. 

According to Tribal, the agency will lead brand campaigns and retail-marketing programmes for all VW's divisions, including new and used cars. Tribal will also develop integrated plans spanning above-the-line, digital, social, mobile and CRM. On the digital front, Tribal will enhance Volkswagen's portal using Adobe Experience Manager and use cross-channel analytics to drive lead generation, the agency said.

Jamie Lee, GM of marketing and communications at Volkswagen Group Singapore, said in a release that Tribal's proposal "went beyond our advertising needs as it was geared towards efficiency and smart targeting to help us with tracking and optimising sales performance". The agency stood out as a partner especially thanks to its divisions for data and shopper marketing, she added.

Tribal has already started working with VW on an ongoing campaign for the launch of the Tiguan model, which has achieved good results, especially on the digital front, according to Lee.

"This is a tremendous win for us because we share the same DNA with VW," DDB global CEO Chuck Brymer said. "The strong alliance with our global offices allows the Singapore market to stay in pole position working with the best teams.”

Joshua Lee, managing partner of Tribal Worldwide said the agency's data and technology practitioners will enhance the path to purchase, brand loyalty and customer engagement, while working closely with the sales team for conversions.

Campaign Asia-Pacific has reached out to a number of agencies potentially involved in the pitch and will update this article if and when they respond.

* Update: This story originally stated that Formul8 was one of the pitching agencies, but the company got in touch to say it declined to participate in the pitch.

** Update 2: VW reports that after 2014 it worked with Interpage for creative and with KRDS on digital advertising and social-media management.