RPM's Head of Strategy and Creative, Rob Wilson, believes passionately in the power of experiential to help car brands stand out from the competition. Here is his advice on using offline events and online communities to build brand advocates.
I believe the world has lost its emotional connection with cars, and I’m not alone. In an article on the BBC website entitled, ‘Why are US teenagers driving less?’, Brian Wheeler, Political Reporter, BBC News, claimed that ‘46% of 18 to 24 year olds said they would choose internet access over owning their own car’, adding that ‘the American youth have fallen out of love with automobiles because they are living their lives online’. Not only is the internet clearly providing an easier route to freedom, but as we live in a world more concerned with sustainability than ever, cars are now categorised as pollutants and considered bad for the environment. If we look back to the 1940’s and 50’s, cars symbolised liberation, travel, adventure and freedom. Nowadays consumers are using the internet to transport them to anywhere in the world at the click of a mouse. In order to re-engage the youth of today car brands have a huge challenge on their hands. Not only do they need to bring back the car icons of the 1940’s but they must re-establish an emotional connection to the car, putting themselves at the heart of online communities when online presence is everything.
Establish USPs
It is harder than ever to achieve cut through in the automotive industry, so much so that according to KPMG, the car market is set to intensify, reaching overcapacity to 20-30% by 2016. In order to stand out from the crowd car brands need to establish their USPs and use these to create unique identities. They also need to establish what their brand is about and how they can use it to engage people. Take Ford for example. If there’s any brand that should stand for pioneering, entrepreneurial, and unique it should be Ford. It led the way for engineering and motorcars and is arguably the car brand that changed America, yet I can’t think of a car brand in the UK that more represents normal, average, or middle of the road. With such a rich identity based on their American heritage, Ford’s Marketers needs to tap into the brand’s fascinating story and re-tell it in an engaging way; after all, consumers love a good story.
Similarly, let’s look at Range Rover: a car brand synonymous with adventure, off-road travel and discovery. If a brand is so well known for its exploration, shouldn’t Range Rover create something online that helps you discover the world? Or perhaps an app that helps you locate anywhere on earth? It strikes me as odd that Range Rover didn’t think to create Google Earth before Google did. It would have made far more sense, as ultimately Google are just a search engine. Range Rover’s car can ultimately ‘take you anywhere’ so they need to replicate this attribute through a consumer experience that offers a clear value exchange whilst highlighting the benefits of the model.
Tap into Communities
Traditionally car brands have been able to build great communities. Take those surrounding the Morris Minor, the VW, or the Mini. When it comes to car fanatics, their loyal communities exist online and offline and automotive brands need to ensure that each community compliments and works to benefit or build the other. On a recent trip to Brighton I was surrounded by thousands of VW cars that were all attending a VW Campervan meeting. I bet if I were to go online and look at the British VW Camper Van Society, their Facebook community would be huge. Brands need to find out what it is that their communities get excited about and they need to bring a little bit of that back.
It is always important to include existing car communities in any marketing decisions; hear what they have to say, and shape a campaign around their needs and expectations. For example, when Mini launched its new Mini 2010, the thousands of established Mini fans within the GB community fan hub should have been invited to test the car. This way, a community of 20-30,000 people would begin talking about your new car immediately and you could hear feedback from people that matter the most. Additionally, because they already love Mini, the chances are they aren’t going to talk about it negatively. If what people say is not going to be able to shape what Mini are doing with the car, they are doing it too late in my opinion. Marketers should look to involve people all the way through the journey so people understand why decisions have been made. What’s more, these people who are passionate about your brand are going to talk about it anyway, so better to involve them earlier. Someone who is an ardent Mini fan is going to say what they think about the car whether you involve them or not so better to involve them so that the consumer understands the journey you’ve been through.
Help people directly discover the car
We’ve done a lot of work with Nissan at the 02 Innovation Station, and the results are interesting. We’ve seen that people are engaged with cars, but only when they have an opportunity to see them and interact with them. If car brands can tap into online communities and simultaneously create opportunities for offline community events to showcase and allow consumers to discover the cars, they will increase consumer engagement.
Car brands need to transform cars into positive icons again, using online communities and offline events to build brand advocates, give people something positive to talk about and create direct experiences with the cars. When we look at putting messages into social media, there needs to be something that immediately resonates with consumers and offers them an immediate value exchange; something that they can pass on and talk about.
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