Brussels, 27 September 2007 - Sappi, the global producer of coated fine paper for the communications industry, has awarded its 2007 Sappi Print Media Efficiency Award to German car manufacturer Audi and advertising agency kempertrautmann for their campaign introducing the new Audi Q7 sports utility vehicle. The campaign integrated print, TV, Internet and CRM activities to support the launch of the premium SUV in the German, Italian and Spanish markets in March 2006.

Sappi presented the award in Brussels as part of the 2007 EACA (European Association of Communications Agencies) Euro Effie Awards. These recognise effective European cross-border communications and the Q7 campaign also claimed the gold Euro Effie in the automotive category.

According to Marco Eikelenboom, Sappi's European Director Marketing and Sales: "We created the Sappi Print Media Efficiency Award especially for the Euro Effies to stimulate thinking about the efficiency of integrated marketing communications. As campaigns become more integrated, we are now seeing an increasing percentage of budgets allocated to print media. The Audi Q7 campaign clearly demonstrated its efficiency by generating 15,000 confirmed pre-orders for the SUV prior to its launch. Also it enabled Audi to exceed its first year's sales targets by 10.2%."

One of the key reasons that Audi and kempertrautmann chose to devote around 40% of the budget to print was because the target audience of success-oriented leadership figures value and trust print advertising. Pan-European and national daily newspapers, automotive and business magazines were selected as the main print media. Large format, twin-page advertisements used exciting angles to show legendary quattro rallye cars driving on sand, ice and rain-drenched streets. The Audi Q7 was then dynamically depicted driving on the same surfaces, highlighting its sporty nature and high performance quattro technology.

Both TV and print advertising was tasked with familiarising the target group with the special 'Q7 Globe' website, sparking curiosity and generating an address list of potential buyers. The would-be customers were subsequently followed up with highly personalised direct mail. The print advertising caused visitors to the Audi website to skyrocket, almost doubling the number of visits compared to before the campaign. This enabled Audi to assemble more than 200,000 addresses of potential buyers, clearly demonstrating print's ability to generate interest.

Studies showed that the Audi Q7 achieved the best image of any car in the premium SUV segment, clearly ahead of competitors such as the BMW X5, Porsche Cayenne and Range Rover Sport, and Audi acquired a far stronger 'sporty' image. The Q7 had reversed downward market trends in the SUV sector in both Germany and Italy, as well as accelerated market growth in Spain.

"Audi's campaign demonstrates that print media remains an exceptional communication tool which often delivers better value for money than other media," comments Eikelenboom. "As a major producer of coated paper, we hope that the Sappi Print Media Efficiency Award encourages advertisers to fully explore the benefits of print media in promoting their products."

Last year's Sappi Print Media Efficiency Award was won by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota for its pan-European environmental campaign 'Aim: Zero emissions'.

Sappi is the world’s leading producer of coated fine paper. Its brands include Magno, HannoArt, Quatro and Royal graphic papers, as well as Algro, Leine and Parade speciality labelling and packaging papers and boards. Customers in more than 100 countries worldwide specify these for the highest quality publishing, promotional and packaging applications. The papers are produced in mills accredited with ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and EMAS certification and Sappi is the first paper company in Europe to hold chain-of-custody certification for its entire European operations under both the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) schemes.

ENDS

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