JAGUAR NORTH AMERICA WINS ADWEEK MEDIA PLAN OF THE YEAR AWARD FOR ART OF PERFORMANCE TOUR CAMPAIGN
12 September 2016
Jaguar North America has won the AdWeek Media Plan of the Year Award for the Best Use of Branded Content for its social media-focused Jaguar Art of Performance Tour. To speak about this award and what it means to Jaguar is Joe Torpey, Jaguar Land Rover North America Communications Manager.
Can you tell us more about the Award Jaguar has won?
Jaguar has won the AdWeek Media Plan of the Year Award for the Best Use of Branded Content ($2 million - $4 million). It is in recognition of the innovative media strategy and tactics deployed in support of Jaguar’s five-city Art of Performance Tour. This event helped introduce consumers to the new Jaguar lineup that now includes the Jaguar XE, an all-new compact luxury sport sedan and the first-ever Jaguar crossover, the all-new Jaguar F-PACE. Both models make the Jaguar brand more accessible to a wider younger audience. We took this key new audience perspective to heart as we developed the event and media strategy together with our agency partners Spark44, Mindshare, Automotive Events, as well as our media partner Facebook.
Who attended the Jaguar Art of Performance Tour?
Leading up to the events, over 40,000 consumers expressed interest in the new model lineup. The tour was designed to bring the brand and products to life for consumers, but most importantly make them part of the action -- as this new younger millennial audience values engaging social content greatly. Of the 7,000 participants who attended one of our events across Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Miami and Chicago - 85 percent were new to the brand. Those who took part really seemed to enjoy the event. In exit surveys, 99 percent rated the overall experience good to excellent, and 98 percent said that after taking part in the event and driving the new XE they would recommend Jaguar to a friend.
What was special about the program?
One of the really cool elements was The Audition, a virtual test-drive in which the driver became the stunt-driving star of a heart-pounding two-minute action film. Using Hollywood-caliber sets and custom-built video-stitching technology, we were able to give our participants an instantly sharable film, starring themselves, within 20 minutes. While participants waited for their films, they were able to go out and test drive a real Jaguar XE.
What did participants do with their films?
Most shared them with friends on social media – the main outlets being Facebook and Instagram. On Facebook alone, these personal videos have been viewed over 520,000 times helping generate tremendous word of mouth, which is highly influential in vehicle shopping. With two more tour stops planned, we anticipate the number of attendees and video views to grow even more.
Have the Audition videos gone viral?
Viral is a strong word, but the share rate is very high at over 50% -- when you consider most social media consumers have between 200-300 friends, this is substantial. With additional paid media amplifying these efforts we were able to extend the reach significantly beyond the attendees and their friends to like-minded consumers. It has proved to be a remarkable way of reaching potential customers and raising awareness of the new generation of Jaguar.
How is this translating into all-important sales?
Jaguar is on a fantastic trajectory right now. Just as an example, for the month of August, sales in North America were up 189 percent compared to August last year. It made August the best Jaguar sales month since 2004. The month saw Jaguar XE sales hit 901 units sold, with the F-PACE accounting for 1,222 units sold, making it the brand’s volume leader.
What does this AdWeek award mean to Jaguar?
We are especially honored to be recognized by AdWeek – one of the world’s leading marketing and media news organizations. This award helps reinforce the impact we were able to deliver with this program and validates the unique approach we took. It doesn’t hurt to have great products at the heart of the story. It also recognizes how we leveraged changing consumer behavior to captivate and convince a new and highly media-savvy audience, and blur the lines between their physical and virtual worlds. I think the award is also a huge pat on the back to the creative minds at our agencies and media partners who helped us put together this amazing program – and did not shy away from this massive challenge.
Who were some of those behind-the-scenes key players?
This was a truly breakthrough program for Jaguar and we could not have done it without the help of our lead agencies Spark 44 and Mindshare, our production partners at Mindshare Entertainment, the team at Automotive Events who created the test-drive element of the Tour. And importantly Facebook and Instagram, who proved to be excellent partners and helped consumers easily spread word of mouth in a whole new way.
