GM Launches Integrated Onlne & Outdoor Campaign in US

It features this site - Find Your Style - which allows users to identify what sort of person they are by picking a head, a body, and a pair of legs from choices available. The site they suggests cars from the GM range (Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Buick, GMC, Saturn, Hummer and Saab).

It's quite good, if a little limited. It's possibly the sort of thing you'd send to a friend, but the relatively small range of body parts on offer means that ultimately it's a novelty rather than anything that would be really useful to a car buyer.

The press release also mentions the new GM Buy Power site, which allows users to examine, get quotes on, and find any cars at dealerships. This seems to work well.

Here's the press release:

General Motors Debuts Integrated Ad Campaign Targeting the Unique California Style
< back




'Find Your Style' Theme Featured in Billboards, New Web Site and Sweepstakes
Created by McCannSF and Zentropy

SAN FRANCISCO, March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- McCann Erickson San Francisco
(McCannSF) and McCann's primary online resource, Zentropy Partners (Zentropy)
announced the debut of an integrated outdoor and online advertising campaign
for General Motors western region. The campaign speaks directly to the
diverse styles and unique personalities of Californians, which mirror the
diverse options offered by the 65 models in the GM line of vehicles. The
theme of the campaign -- "Find Your Style" -- is based on the premise that
Californians have diverse tastes and styles, and that no matter what that
style is GM has the right vehicle for every individual.
McCannSF and Zentropy integrated resources to develop and launch the
campaign, targeting Californians who may never have considered a GM vehicle in
the past. Strategy, media and outdoor creative were developed by McCannSF.
The web site, http://www.findyourstyle.com, online creative and sweepstakes were
created by Zentropy. The "Build Your Billboard" sweepstakes launches this
week. The sweepstakes invites users to turn creative director and execute
their own version of the outdoor campaign, with the chance to have their
billboard posted in their own hometown.
The outdoor campaign launched in mid-February with an oversized bookend
billboard on a high rise building on Hollywood's Sunset Strip. The billboard
features LA Lakers basketball star Shaq on the right side of the building
looking to the left side, where the bookend billboard has the headline
"Hardwood" above a GM Hummer on a solid wood floor and below that another
headline "Hollywood" above a GM Escalade on "the red carpet."
The outdoor campaign is composed of six billboard executions appearing in
prominent locations throughout Los Angeles and San Francisco. The billboards
compare the GM line of vehicles to various California lifestyle attributes,
ranging from skiing styles to entertainment choices.
A key goal of the "Find Your Style" web site was to use technology in an
innovative way to both highlight GM's innovations and integrate with other
established and powerful GM sites. For example, for people who had not
previously considered GM, but are interesting in learning more about the
vehicles, they can link directly to http://www.gm.com/story. For people who are now
considering GM they can link to http://www.gm.com/24hour. And, for people who are
now ready to purchase a vehicle, they can link to http://www.gmbuypower.com.
The new web site, http://www.findyourstyle.com, is built entirely in Flash and
introduces engaging interactivities and games. Examples of the edgy style and
look can be found in the bright colors and hip photography throughout the
site. Some of the innovative interactive areas include:

* "What's Your Style" which enables the user to choose their own
personality by selecting various head and body parts, plus a creative
headline. Once the user has submitted their personality, a scientific
algorithm selects the right GM vehicle for them.

* "Style Starts Within" showcases the beauty of the GM interiors in
smart and interactive ways, rolling over hotspots which highlight
state of the art GM product features.

* "Concentrate On Style" allows the user to play a "concentration" type
game. Once they have found all the right pieces, they are shown all
of the various body styles available on GM BuyPower.com.

* "Build Your Billboard" integrates with the offline campaign and is the
teaser for a sweepstakes launching this week. This area invites the
user to be creative and submit a billboard headline.

Mike Jackson, General Manager for GM's Western Region, stated, "GM's key
to market leadership and success in California is high quality, 'gotta have'
cars and trucks. With 14 new models and six new nameplates in 2004, this adds
to the depth and breadth of our product lineup which is seamlessly integrated
through the 'find your style' campaign."
Kevin Moehlenkamp, Chief Creative Officer, McCannSF, commented, "We're
really excited about the 'find your style' program. What we're attempting,
for the first time, is to get people to consider not just a particular vehicle
when shopping, but to consider a family of vehicles. GM has the largest and
most varied selection of really great cars to fit the diverse personalities of
California and we wanted a campaign to demonstrate that fact. By developing a
campaign that generates buzz in outdoor and drives them to a great web site to
show off our vehicles, we're helping Californians to shop for a car in a whole
new way. GM is a great car company. People will be surprised what they find
when they look at them today."
Steve Woolford, Worldwide Managing Director, Zentropy Partners, added,
"This is an excellent example of how the online communications channel can be
used to extend and enhance the entire advertising message."

About McCann Erickson San Francisco
McCann Erickson San Francisco (McCannSF) is among the top totally
integrated agencies in the Bay Area. Advertising accounts include Applied
Materials, AMD, Del Monte, Microsoft and Southcorp Wines North America, among
others. McCannSF has been named "Western Agency of the Year" by Adweek
Magazine and "Ad Agency of the Year" by Technology Marketing Magazine. McCann
Erickson is one of the foremost ad agencies in the U.S., with eight
full-service offices across the country. McCann has been named "Global Agency
of the Year" by Adweek Magazine in three of the past five years. McCann
Erickson Worldwide is the world's leading global ad agency network, with
operations in 132 countries and is a unit of McCann Worldgroup, which is part
of The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG).

About Zentropy Partners
Zentropy Partners, (http://www.zentropypartners.com), is a global Internet
professional services company founded in 1995 and headquartered in Los
Angeles, California. Its user-centric focus on Experience Architecture &
Design has resulted in performance based integrated online marketing campaigns
and award-winning Web Design/Development. Zentropy Partners global clients
include GM, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Nestle and Unilever, among others. Zentropy
Partners is a MRM Partners company, one of the leading relationship marketing
agency networks in the world. MRM Partners is a unit of McCann Worldgroup,
which is part of The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG).

Spike Jonze revealed as the 'real' director of the Volvo Dalaro ads. Cue even more publicity...

The article also reveals something of the success of the campaign - 77,000 unique visitors, 440,000 impressions (if that's what they mean by 'hits') including 96,000 from the UK.

Spike Jonze unveiled as man behind spoof Volvo film
Volvo: Spike Jonze behind the Dalaro spoof
Jennifer Whitehead, Brand Republic 13:00 19-03-2004
LONDON - Volvo has revealed that it is the cult American film director Spike Jonze who is behind the spoof advertising campaign 'The Mystery of Dalaro', which promotes the new Volvo S40 model.

The campaign includes a television ad, a mock documentary and a spoof website to promote the new model.

Created by Amsterdam-based MVBMS Fuel Europe, it started with a television spot in January, shot in the style of a documentary and purporting to be a real account of the Swedish village Dalaro where 32 people all bought a new Volvo S40 on the same day.

The advertising was backed with a longer version of the documentary featuring interviews with residents of Dalaro talking about the spooky phenomenon. It was supposedly directed by a Venezuelan filmmaker called Carlos Soto.

This was backed by a viral campaign directing people towards Soto's personal website where he outlined his suspicions that he was part of a set-up by Volvo.

But Volvo has now revealed that it is Spike Jonze, the director of the films 'Being John Malkovich' and 'Adaptation' as well as the legendary Beastie Boys video 'Sabotage', who made the documentary. However it has said that the characters in the campaign are real residents of Dalaro and not actors.

The Swedish car maker said that hits to the Volvo UK website have more than doubled since the launch of the campaign, and that 435,000 digital viewers of the ad have selected the red button option to view the documentary via interactive TV.

Carlos Soto's spoof website has been visited by 77,000 people across Europe and the Volvo Dalaro site has had 440,000 hits, including 96,000 from the UK.

A good article in this morning's Guardian about how cars are increasingly using online media for launches.

It underlines that online media has reached a critical point. Just as ten years ago it was rare to find a campaign for a mens' brand (beer, cars etc), a housewife brand (household goods, nappies etc) or a kids brand (snack foods, soft drinks etc) that didn't use satellite, it's pretty hard to find cars that don't use online extensively.

I still think that online will only work for launches if it's pretty heavily supported below the line, especially by PR.

Here's the UK version of the Evolution VIII site

Drivetime on the web?

This week Mitsubishi will be the latest car-maker to launch a model online instead of on TV. But why, and will other industries follow suit? asks Meg Carter

Monday March 22, 2004
The Guardian

Forget the all-singing-and-dancing primetime TV advertising extravaganza, the internet is becoming the medium of choice for canny car brands eager to make their mark. For proof look no further than Mitsubishi, the latest manufacturer to challenge advertising convention by launching a new model online. The campaign - for the European launch of the Lancer Evolution VIII sports car, or "Evo" - goes live this week. The latest in a series of bold and innovative online car campaigns, it's also set to give the rest of adland a timely wake-up call.

Car brands' interest in the internet has undergone a quantum leap in the three years since BMW unveiled its ground-breaking BMW Films initiative. Back in 2001 the company hired top directors, including Tony Scott and Guy Ritchie, to shoot a series of short films with star names, such as Gary Oldman and Madonna, in which the only requirement was that a BMW car had to appear.

BMW distributed these films via a dedicated BMW films website. The initiative created a buzz which enabled the company to compile a highly lucrative database of prospective customers. In the first year alone, BMW estimates more than 13 million saw the initial batch of films; 2.4 million people provided the company with their email contact details; and 40,000 people gave it permission to contact them - an invaluable source of self-selecting sales leads.

Since then, a number of other car brands have further blurred the line between advertising and content and pushed the potential of interactive online marketing. Last month Volvo launched a campaign involving an elaborate documentary-style TV ad; an internet film; and a spoof website questioning the veracity of the TV campaign. Mazda, meanwhile, has just launched the latest stage of an ongoing web-based strategy involving viral films; last year it launched its Mazda6 range online.

At first glance, Mitsubishi's launch marketing strategy for the Evo - developed by advertising agency StrawberryFrog - sounds a contradictory one: "a secret campaign" to prompt interest by generating a sense of mystery. An online film depicting a man's encounter with a strange new cult (the cult of the Evo, it turns out) has been produced. The film is now being "seeded" - in other words, discreetly placed among various online communities of car enthusiasts.

This will be followed in two months' time by a more conventional online strategy with online media bought to further distribute the film; print advertising in specialist car and lifestyle magazines will then run later in the year. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi has also created a new games website on which visitors can play a number of cutting-edge driver simulation and racing games. Allied to this is an online promotion to win an Evo test-drive with some of Europe's top rally driving talent.

The approach was shaped by the fact that car enthusiasts already know about the Evo - it has been written about in specialist magazines for the past year and recently featured in the Hollywood movie 2 Fast 2 Furious.

StrawberryFrog creative partner Scott Goodson explains: "The aim is to further stoke interest in the Evo. But you can't claim to be a real trendsetter yourself if you go to the marketplace with a mass-market TV advertising campaign," he says. "So we are using the internet both to get car lovers and trendsetters to become ambassadors for the brand, and because driving this car is like driving a video game, which most of the target market for this particular car will do and probably do more than they actually watch TV."

It's all about creating a deeper sense of engagement with the product through interactivity, Goodson adds: "We have found that requiring the consumer to make more of an effort to participate means that once they do make that effort they become more deeply involved with the brand."

Mitsubishi's online launch for the Evo is being greeted with knowing nods by those working on other online car campaigns. "There has been a creative step change in how car brands now use the net," says Neil Hughston of digital marketing agency Tribal DDB, whose clients include VW. "Formerly it was seen as little more than an extension of brochures. Now, though, there is a clear acknowledgement of the value in giving consumers total control over whether and how they engage with the brand and better understanding of how to achieve both."

Car brands' growing confidence online has been fuelled by the nature of the product and the nature of how car buyers choose and purchase a new car, believes Simon Smith, creative director of interactive agency Weapon 7, whose clients include Honda. "As a car is a big purchase consumers want to make a considered buying decision," he says. "For the car company, it's all about engagement because cars have a life of their own - a unique personality and lifestyle. The web allows you to build an emotional link with a particular car in a way which other media don't."

So, car brands are increasingly producing internet-only films; creating more web-based, product-related games; online competitions and promotions and, of course, state-of-the-art modelling and image manipulation to demonstrate product features on their websites. In fact, many now believe, their boldness and willingness to innovate is fast leaving brand owners in other product categories lagging far behind.

Industry figures go some way towards supporting this. Spending by car companies on internet advertising is growing faster than for any other product category, according to figures published last month by the UK's Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

IAB/PwC data shows all online advertising expenditure growing quickly - up 85% year on year to £151.6m during the first six months of 2003. While financial services firms remain the largest internet advertisers (accounting for 30% of UK online advertising expenditure) cars have become the fastest growing - accounting for 17% of online advertising in the first half of 2003, triple the figure for the same period the previous year. The challenge for the industry now, though, is to persuade other companies with different sorts of products to be as innovative and bold.

"Other brands have much to learn from car advertisers," says Smith. Many still struggle to make online communications consistent with all of their other forms of communication - something car companies have got right, he believes. Trickier, however, is the nature of different products, Hughston adds: "Cars are a high-interest, high-value purchase. In contrast banking is a daily necessity where the level of potential for emotional attachment is very different, so getting people to engage with these brands online becomes far trickier."

Despite this, Goodson believes other brand owners have much to learn from online car advertisers. "Would we recommend a web-only launch for other products aimed at, say, mothers with kids? Probably not. At least not yet. For the time being the most appropriate products to advertise online are those with a clearly defined online audience and which - like Evo - already command a degree of consumer interest making people willing to engage online," he observes. "But as Tivo personal video recording technology grows increasingly prevalent online will become more and more attractive for mainstream brands."

...& here are some pictures of the BMW 1 Series - a range of samll cars.

Small compared to other BMWs, that is...

BMW goes interactive for new German Launch

Explained in German , or via Babelfish translation:

In former times customer dialogue for new BMW 1er in the InterNet
Web platform principle joy with singular offers - on-line adventure ' Cool Flame - The Game '


Munich. BMW sets for the preparation of the introduction on the market of the new BMW 1er on the InterNet. Well a half year before the Launch starts the platform the www.prinzip freude.de dialogue with prospective customers and potenziellen customers. With singular offers approximately around the topic joy new target groups for the mark BMW are to be addressed. A highlight of the Website is the interactive on-line adventure "Cool Fleming - The Game". Together with reporter Harley Fleming and singer Gina Lopez must solve the player tricky tasks - and naturally the BMW 1er plays thereby an important role.

The principle joy as roof of the BMWS 1er communication

With extensive communication in the InterNet the introduction of the new BMW 1er is prepared in Germany. In the center of the campaign with the title "the principle joy" the portal of the same name www.prinzip freude.de is located.

Whether a role in the new BMW Werbespot, Meet & Greets with international Pop star, VIP maps for the Galaveranstaltung to the BMW kurzfilm Award 2004 or an early test run with the BMW 1er still before the market start - who registers itself on the "principle joy" Website has the possibility at exclusive Events from the ranges sport, Lifestyle, of participating film and music and of winning prices, which are alone not to be had for money. Exciting on-line Games and various information to the new model round the offer off.

The Website "principle joy" will be also beyond that up to the introduction on the market in the autumn and the central approach place for prospective customers of the new BMW 1er. Advertisement in on-line media and announcements in selected titles make attentive to the platform. Registered users inform E-Mail new type character when desired about new profit possibilities and contents. The Website of BBDO InterOne from Munich was realized.

Cool Fleming - The Game: experience spielerisch the 1er

A further component of the dialogue measures in the InterNet is the interactive on-line adventure "Cool Fleming - The Game". In the center the coole reporter Harley Fleming and the beautiful singer Gina Lopez are located. Over five episodes, which are switched gradually to June, the player the characters accompanies animated Story by one in the modern Sixties style and must thereby many tasks and entangling solve. Clearly the fact that Harley Fleming and Gina Lopez BMW drive - and like that is also many kilometers in the new BMW 1er virtually to put back. The player from episode to episode more from the new model to to see to get. At the end of each episode signs the registered player small rewards.

Cool Fleming goes in a set of countries and languages at the start, among them Germany, Austria, France, Sweden and Spain. The play developed in co-operation of BBDO InterOne, Hamburg and Public Toons Entertainment.

Sources: BMW press information of 11.03.04

Prinzip Freunde site - register on the site for exclusive events and news

Cool Flame game - In several parts, gradually released over the BMW launch period

My German isn't good enough to tell if these are good, but it's an innovative idea, and it shows that online is central to their thinking

Audi - New German TV Ad

Audi in Germany has a new TV ad with Dustin Hoffman, which updates the film The Graduate, having Hoffman steal the bride away from a wedding, this time in an Audi.

It isn't that interesting in itself - the film has been parodied or used in other ways in lots of other ads (the idea was used in the final Papa/Nicole Renault ad in the UK in the 1990s) - but what makes it different is that Hoffman, aware that he looks a bit silly, insisted in his contract that it should only be seen in Germany.

This is where it gets interesting: the film is now online, and anyone in the world can see it.

While this is embarrassing for Dustin, what it illustrates is that any advertising has the potential to go beyond the target it was designed for. In the same way the Honda 'Cog' ad was originally only intended for the UK but spread all around the world, beyond the original target audience.

What this means for advertisers is that they must always remember that anyone can see their ads. So - no stereotypes of other nationalities, nothing that can be easily disproved by people who are experts and so on. Don't make bland advertising, but just remember that the whole world could be watching...

First post - just testing...

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