We discussed exactly that at the JETZT Data Driven Marketing Conference, together with René Petzner, Head of Marketing at BYD Austria. Our joint work also earned BYD Austria and Achtzehn Grad the Austrian State Marketing Award 2026, receiving the Special Award for Data Driven Marketing. We're incredibly pleased about this recognition.
But this kind of progress doesn't come from isolated campaign peaks. It happens when many different elements work together. Here, we want to share the decisions and thinking behind our approach.
Brand vs. Performance? The wrong question.
Marketing still often treats brand building and performance marketing as two opposing disciplines. In the automotive industry, this distinction is particularly risky.
A test drive doesn't happen just because someone fills out a form. It happens because of trust, recognition, relevance and timing. Performance improves as the brand grows stronger. And brand building becomes more meaningful when it's backed by real market results.
That's why we approached brand building as an integrated growth model. The creative concept, website, media management, tracking, data strategy and dealership operations were all designed to work as one connected system.
Brand building in two phases
In the first year, we had to answer a fundamental question: What exactly is BYD? Under a dedicated creative platform, we deliberately put the vehicles and their features front and centre. Technology, equipment and value for money helped communicate what BYD had to offer and just how accessible these innovations were. At this stage, product communication had a clear purpose.
The following year, we built on that foundation with a second question: What does BYD stand for? With our campaign platform "Wir bringen Träume auf die Straße" ("Bringing Dreams to the Road"), we gave the brand a more emotional identity and brought the meaning of Build Your Dreams to life for the Austrian market. The creative platform connects brand and product communication. Each model finds its place within a shared brand universe that goes beyond individual features and specifications.
This evolution also strengthens performance. People who understand what BYD offers and have developed a connection with the brand approach a test drive with a different mindset. That's why we planned brand building, the website and campaign management together right from the start.
The lead is not the goal
A completed form looks good in a report. But many marketing models stop exactly where things start getting interesting in the automotive industry: at the lead. Whether that lead turns into a test drive or an actual sale is another question entirely. That's why automotive marketing needs a different approach to performance measurement and optimisation. Generating as many contacts as possible simply isn't enough. What matters is understanding the quality and impact of every step along the customer journey: from the first impression to interest in a specific model, website interaction, test drive, offer and ultimately the vehicle purchase.
Specific efficiency metrics remain internal. What matters here is the strategic approach: looking beyond the lead and focusing on marketing's contribution to overall market growth. This also involves something that isn't part of any creative campaign concept: continuous optimisation. Visuals, messages and audiences need to be constantly refined. Landing pages, technical processes and channels must be flexible enough to adapt quickly when the data shows that the market is shifting. And there's another important question: How quickly does an interested customer receive a response? At BYD Austria, the internal target is to respond to every incoming lead within two hours. That makes a real difference when someone is actively comparing models and wants to arrange a test drive.
For a new brand in particular, physical accessibility also matters. Where can I see the car? Who can advise me? How do I book a test drive? The website needs to answer these questions and make connecting with a dealership as easy as possible.
A new market needs a setup that can learn and adapt
Launching BYD in Austria came with a unique set of circumstances: limited existing brand awareness, a highly dynamic market, a growing dealership network and the opportunity to rethink digital infrastructure from the ground up.
One major advantage was that we were able to shape the digital setup together with BYD Austria from the very beginning. Using Webflow as a flexible CMS, open interfaces and Salesforce as the CRM, we created an infrastructure that enables rapid changes, ensures consistent data flows and connects marketing campaigns more closely with sales.
Additional components were deliberately integrated into this ecosystem: leasing calculations, insurance-related services, centralised channel performance measurement through a dashboard, and a dedicated platform for managing, delivering and optimising display campaigns.
The goal wasn't to use as many tools as possible. It was to build a system that could be effectively managed and optimised, with clearly defined data points, responsibilities and decision-making processes. AI-powered workflows are also being added step by step. Through MCP integrations with tools such as Claude or GPT, updates can be implemented faster, content can be managed more efficiently, new content variations can be developed and digital tools can be built more quickly.
The underlying principle is simple: the system needs to be capable of learning, evolving and moving fast enough to keep up with a dynamic market. Building something like this only works when the client and agency move beyond traditional client–service provider relationships.
In René Petzner and the BYD Austria team, we found a partner who didn't see growth as a sequence of campaigns, but as a long-term strategic effort: making decisions quickly, looking openly at data, having the courage to experiment and never losing sight of the brand.
What the BYD case shows
Data helps us understand which models generate interest, which messages resonate and where potential customers drop off on their journey towards a test drive. But we still have to decide what story we want to tell and what BYD should sound like. These are decisions that require deliberate creative and strategic direction. Brand and performance need to be treated as one integrated system. If you focus solely on buying short-term leads, you risk becoming interchangeable. If you focus only on building the brand, you lose momentum.
For us, that's exactly what makes this work so exciting: a creative idea becomes more powerful when the website, campaigns and dealership network all support it. And data helps us continuously improve the way we get there.
The Austrian Marketing Award 2026 and our presentation at the JETZT Data Driven Marketing Conference are wonderful acknowledgements of our work. But what matters even more is what this case demonstrates: Data Driven Marketing isn't cold, purely technical or the opposite of creativity.
At its best, it combines creative brand leadership with measurable market growth. And seeing our joint efforts help build a brand that people recognise and actively consider is every bit as rewarding.
