Mercedes Smart “The Unexpected Test Drive”
Mercedes Smart
Issue 28 | September 2013
Agency
BBDO Moscow
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer: Igor Lutz Creative Director: Mihai Coliban Deputy Creative Director: Sergey Kozhevnikov Senior Art Director: Darya Agapova Senior Producer BBDO: Valery Gorokhov Producer Assistant BBDO: Natalya Abzalova Animation: Kirill Kulygin Producer Park Production: Irina Lanskaya Director Park Production: Ivan Oganesov DOP Park Production: Georgy Leonov Managing Director Pelican Event: Elena Novikova Account Manager Pelican Event: Maria Stepkova Client Service Director: Christina Tancher Group Account Director: Anna Sokolova Account Manager: Yana Bader
Date
March 2013
Background
Most illegally parked cars in Moscow were picked-up during the weekend shopping. Having lost their cars, drivers had to go through a real ordeal. They had to pay exorbitant release fees, enduring long cab rides across the city to the car pound.
Idea
At exactly the moment of the car-less driver’s frustration and desperation, Smart teams jumped in, offering free rides in Smart cars, a unique opportunity to test drive the versatile car in some of the world’s worst traffic jams.
Being there for them at exactly the moment when drivers needed a car, most of those rescued became advocates and true believers of the Smart, enjoying a 100% realistic test drive of the very car that could continue to save them hassle.
Results
40 Smarts rescued 623 drivers whose cars were impounded over three days from parking lots around eight shopping malls Over 400 drivers became true believers (“Smart is a real car”), a conversion rate of 70%, recommending Smart on their Vkontakte and Facebook profiles and in their blogs. News portals picked up the stories, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in earned media and incalculable amounts of positive communication.
Test drives increased 10 fold in the 2 weeks following the event.
Our Thoughts
Digital has touched every single aspect of advertising, transforming how we reach people as well as what we say to them. This is a classic example of an offline campaign mimicking the need these days for brands online to offer some real practical help to its potential customers. Smart didn’t set out with a message. They set out to help people discover the car’s benefits for themselves. This is the equivalent of a real-world app, and what makes it viable is the fact that through social media, just 400 people were able to help Smart reach an audience of Muscovites 100 times greater.