2012 in Review: 

We are looking forward to the New Year, but first let's review last year's accomplishments.  2012 was a great year for the Audi Club as we took steps to establish a unifed Audi Club Experience.

Teamwork

National Board of Directors and Chapter Leaders increased our collaboration and teamwork. We shared best practices among leaders. Four working groups (Social, Charity, Driver Education, and Infrastructure) were created to establish ongoing mentor-apprentice programs.

Exciting events for members

Audi Club, Audi of America, and Audi AG collaborated closely to deliver exciting events (Pikes Peak National, Legends of the Autobahn, Best Buddies) and limited “back-stage” access to auto shows across the country, Le Mans 24 Fan Camp, and American Film Festival in Hollywood. Additionally, Audi provided us with a new logo guideline and event materials for easier Audi Club brand recognition.

Kundenbegeisterung

In October 2012, Audi invited Chapter Leaders and National Directors to spend two working days at Audi Headquarters in Herndon, VA. We attended the Creating Audi Fans program in Washington DC for a half day, and spent a day and half on team building exercises and planning.

Some of our Chapters were successful in establishing a symbiotic working relationship with many Audi Dealers across the country in 2012. With our help, an Audi Dealer is not just a place to buy and service cars, but it is an Audi owner community. Audi and Audi Dealers recognized that club membership increases brand loyalty.

Audi owner profiles

Audi Club recognized that Audi owner profile has changed and Audi sales have accelerated in recent years. Because of this, we need to offer more variety of high quality events that appeal to many different Audi owner profiles.

Event communications

On the event communication and marketing front, Audi Club published a new website at the beginning of 2012 followed by a broadcasting framework that integrates with social networking sites. Many Chapters leverage this new communication channel to provide timely event communication. Audi of America has a link to Audi Club in their e-newsletter.

By fall 2012, many Chapters leveraged National infrastructure to host their websites. By taking this approach, Chapters are not required to have highly skilled webmasters to manage their own websites. Furthermore, by adopting the National website service, these Chapters have the same consistent web design that facilitates Audi Club brand experience.

For those who are on the go most of the time, Audi Club iPhone App and Android App were made available from Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Unified Audi Club Experience

A Starbucks tall, non-fat, with light whipped cream, caramel macchiato served in Munich has the same taste, consistency, and quality as the one served in San Francisco or Tokyo. This consistent experience enables Starbucks to become one of the most recognizable coffee shops in the world. Fans are willing to pay premium to have such enriching consistent experience.

Audi of America embarked on a similar journey to create a high quality, consistent, and welcoming Audi dealer experience. Have you noticed that many newly renovated Audi dealers across the country look similar in exterior architecture and interior design? Also, if you spend a lot of time browsing on the internet, you may have noticed that many Audi dealer sites have a similar look and feel. Dealer staff training is extremely high on Audi priority list. Audi is investing heavily to train Dealer employees to provide a uniquely pleasant Audi purchasing experience.

Growth cannot be accelerated without consistent brand experience. The power of word-of-mouth can only happen when one has such a great experience that he goes out of his way to recommend this experience to families and friends. This becomes our top priority. A unified Audi Club Experience must have winning characteristics: enjoyable, memorable, high quality, and consistent across the nation.

Best practices   

In October 2012, Audi Club established four working groups: Social, Charity, Driver Education, and Infrastructure. Each group consists of Chapter representatives who are experts in planning, hosting, and recruiting volunteers. They are establishing guidelines, best practices, and onboarding programs so we can offer the same rewarding Club experience across the country.

What’s in store for 2013

We closed 2012 by having the scalable framework for our Club to grow. Working groups have started collaborating in November 2012. In my next letter, I will summarize our progress on this front. To give you the preview, 2013 is all about MENTORING and EXECUTION of a unified Audi Club Experience.

As we plan to grow, we need many more passionate volunteers. Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   so together we will have a great time nurturing our passion for Audi brand with like-minded people and producing memorable, enjoyable, high quality, and consistent Audi Club experience across the nation.

Also, we welcome Steve Fordham of the Lone Star Chapter on the 2013 ACNA Board of Directors!