4MATIC Book
Mercedes-Benz
Issue 43 | June 2017
Agency
Gruppo Roncaglia, Rome
Creative Team
Creative Director Carla Leveratto Creative Supervisor & Art Director Marco Fresta Senior Copywriter Bruno Puntura
Production Team
Production company Psycle Director Alex Fry Senior Project Manager Scott Mathers Creative Director Haris Amiel Editing Visual Editions Creative & Editorial Direction Anna Gerber, Britt Iversen
Other Credits
Client Service Director Lorenzo Lorato Account Supervisor Federico Lombardi Senior Account Manager Tia Portelli Social Media & Community Manager Valeria Cinelli Senior Digital Developer Simone Tricarico Google Creative Lead Andreas Mielenhausen Google Business Partner Giorgio Ferretti Google Producer David Anderson Google Agency Team Angelica Velati, Marianna Ghirlanda Google Technologist Paolo Pigozzo
Date
December 2016
Background
Mercedes-Benz had always been focused on innovation and the 4MATIC technology the company had developed was the most advanced four-wheel drive system on the market, able to adapt automatically to every condition of weather and road.
Mercedes-Benz wanted to position 4MATIC as technology that was designed around the customer's needs and sought an idea, which, in a similar way, would put the user at the heart of a personal and exclusive experience.
Idea
The 4MATIC Book was the first-ever adaptive story. Just as the 4MATIC car could adjust to its context, so could the book, giving every reader a unique version of the tale.
Working in collaboration with Google and using Google APIs, the 4MATIC Book generated a completely new narrative each time a new starting position was registered.
The yarn changed according to an almost infinite set of variables. Real-time data about the weather, the road conditions, traffic, time of day and even the website or YouTube video which the viewer had last visited were woven into the drama.
Thus the story, written by well-known Italian writer Gianrico Carofiglio, allowed the brand to talk to each reader as an individual.
Results
Within the first weeks, over 92,000 unique stories were created and around the same number of readers. Lead generation was five times higher than previous similar campaigns, thanks to direct links to more "business oriented" activation within the story.
There have been over 1.3 million views of the video spot on YouTube, over 40 articles between online and offline magazines and 56 million media impressions. The project changed the way eBooks were experienced and stimulated the interest of editors like Editions at Play, which chose to include the book in its own online catalogue.
Our Thoughts
I love this idea because it demonstrates how digital, rather than destroy traditional media, is helping them evolve. What might look like a crisis to one person often looks like an opportunity to another and here we see open minds asking how they might transform the novel and turn it into a unique and personalised experience for every reader. When brands have the money and the will to experiment like this, culture will follow. I believe this idea could predicate a whole new genre of story-telling.