Car Brands Step Up Their Ad Campaigns As The Automotive Industry Evolves

As younger consumers continue to refine how they want to receive advertisements, and reconsider car ownership, car brand marketing campaigns adapt with new innovations and strategies. The latest notably innovative car campaign is from Infiniti, which has launched an “immersive Instagram experience” for the Q60 Coupe. The Infiniti activation on Instagram creates the sensation that users are driving a high-performance car, which the brand is hoping will appeal to younger consumers who may be less interested in SUV and crossovers, a category overtaking car sales for older demographics. Sexy, fun car ads are nothing new, but amid pressures from car ownership disruptors, car marketers are implementing innovative campaign tactics to tout the appeal of their newest models.

The Activation Targets Mobile-Game Users Accustomed To Constant Contact With Their Phones

The Infiniti Q60 Coupe Instagram activation is like a mini mobile-game. Mobile games are growing in popularity among native swipers and tappers accustomed to constantly interacting with their phones. And marketers are finding that gamified mobile campaigns are effective, even with non-gamers, because of the seamless way they integrate into normal phone use.

Instagram’s Stories And Quiz Stickers Increase Engagement

Launching from the Highlights button on the Infiniti USA Instagram account, the Infiniti game takes advantage of Instagram’s new Quiz Stickers. Highlights houses Instagram Stories and allows the use of all the bells and whistles including stickers, filters and other additions that can drive engagement and boost a brand’s rank on Instagram. The “choose your own adventure” story style of the Infiniti advertisement may resonate with younger audiences because stories read as personal, a characteristic younger users like. Within the Infiniti activation quiz stickers flash on the screen at faster and faster intervals, creating the sensation of the reflexes necessary for hairpin turns, and there are various different choices, encouraging repeat play. Users can swipe up at the end to book a test drive, resulting in an effective lead generation opportunity for Infiniti.

“Instagram represents the single biggest opportunity for any premium brand right now. It’s a mass-scale platform that enables us to tell compelling stories, marrying up interactivity with the brand and laddering down to the product,” said Jag Sharma, Senior Manager, Global Social Media Marketing at Infiniti.

Perspectives On Car Ownership Are Shifting, Nudging Car Brands Toward More Innovative Marketing

Car subscriptions, Uber, Lyft, scooter programs and other car industry disruptors are forcing car brands to look more closely at who their target audience is and how to reach them. Among the trend-setters:

• Mercedes-Benz, which created an augmented reality (AR) filter for Instagram that linked to a five-minute short film the luxury car brand released on YouTube. 
• Chevy partnered with YouTube to air the #bestdayever. A day of “Acts of Awesomeness” featuring celebrities and influencers carrying out kindnesses in the community. The combo out-of-home (OOH) and social media campaign generated 1.5 billion impressions.
• Like Infiniti, Porsche wanted users to feel a part of the process. The sports car brand created 5,000 limited-edition Porsche-branded virtual reality (VR) Google Cardboard goggles so users could “get inside” the Porsche Panamera 4 e-hybrid and experience the new tech features. The campaign led to 2.2x more virtual test drives than in-person test drives from all the U.S. dealers combined.

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