2 seasons of Driving Progress with Audi Ireland

A elite team of brand ambassadors

Looking for a way to engage the incredible existing Audi ambassadors, an insight-led approach told us that a huge percentages of our key customer demographic was listening to inspirational podcasts. Not only that, a peak listening moment for this audience was when they were behind the wheel.

Creative, social + media relations

Enter us: our role was multi-faceted. We guided the development of the episodes and edits, recruited the hosts and ambassadors, created a stand-out identity, captured the content for social media AND launched a full scale media relations campaign around the show.

A elite team of brand ambassadors

Over many years and many campaigns, we have helped Audi put together an incredible line-up of some of Ireland’s best-known and most dynamic personalities to act as Ambassadors for the premium car brand. These driven individuals embody Audi’s commitment to innovation, success, and most of all, progress.

The right voices for a new strategy

So in 2021, when Audi launched a global new strategy entitled Living Progress (with Future is an Attitude as one of the key tenets), we recognised that there was no better expression of that philosophy than the lives of Audi’s own ambassadors. Their stories of challenges faced and obstacles overcome would be of huge interest to a wide audience, and a perfect fit for the brand’s philosophy.

And what better way to deliver those stories than through a podcast – accessible, inspiring, and perfect for listening to in the car?

Podcast Passengers

We launched the podcast with Emma Dabiri as the personable and progressive host, interviewing Audi Ambassadors Sonya Lennon, Paul Galvin, Garry Ringrose and Rachael Blackmore.

Four short conversations were recorded, exploring the guests’ motivations and challenges faced in their professional and personal lives. Episodes were released weekly, with a press release and branded photography issued to key media. Media appearances were used at key intervals with our host and podcast guests to promote the podcast. 

As expected there was strong interest in the podcast, not least from media. Such was the success that we came back for season 2.

Driving forward, with a second season

For the second season, Sonya Lennon switched sides, and became the interviewer. The line-up of guests included some of Ireland’s best-known sports stars – Audi ambassadors Rob Kearney, Shane Walsh and Robbie Henshaw, and for the final episode we brought in iconic surfer Easkey Britton.

Over two seasons (so far) the podcast has proved a resounding success, exceeding all KPIs and receiving an internal recognition award at Audi global. 

Securing quality PR coverage for the podcast was important to the success of the campaign, creating awareness of the activity and driving listeners to the podcasts.

Each podcast was promoted individually with guest and host pitched for interviews – very successfully. The highlights included two front cover pieces in the Irish Independent Sports Supplement for both Shane Walsh and Robbie Henshaw, both articles landing at an ideal time during a very busy sporting period.

Separate to this, an exclusive interview with Sonya Lennon landed on the front page of the Irish Daily Mail’s You Magazine.

This, along with additional news coverage of each episode, gained an approximate earned reach of over 2.4 million in season one, and 2.9 million in season 2, across 35 media titles.