As the trade marketing agency for Volkswagen Deutschland GmbH we looked after more than 1,300 Volkswagen partners. The brief: establish influencer marketing as a channel of its own in retail — remove the hesitation, make the relevance visible and offer concrete dealer support. Including for businesses with little or no social media experience. Including those short on manpower.

The focus is on regional micro-influencers in the immediate vicinity of the dealer location. They bring exactly what retail needs: authenticity, credibility, community — and access to new audiences through emotional, measurable communication (insights, clicks, leads).

This is complemented by extending existing influencer partnerships and intensifying local sponsorships — with clubs and associations, for example — for the dealers' own social media channels.

Influencer showcase — the dealer picks a favourite from a range of influencer types, and Call Toni suggests suitable local micro-influencers near the location. Drawn from regional external profiles, corporate influencers within the dealer's own team, and partners such as local clubs.

Source of inspiration — a steadily growing idea pool, currently nine categories of practical content ideas. Ready to use, easy to adapt to the dealership, with downloadable idea briefs for quick alignment with the influencer.

Best-practice videos — three influencer productions (How To, Who, How, What?, ID.7 Take a Look) show how a rough idea becomes strong content in no time. A few pointers to the influencer and content creation runs itself.