Following campaigns like Nissan’s Detour and Lincoln’s Dream Ride, which sought to create more immersive digital experiences for consumers, additional auto brands are branching out to new platforms to try to go beyond just another virtual test drive. That includes Jaguar, which is also looking to expand its footprint in the U.S. in part by appealing to younger consumers with a model at a lower price point and with content featuring a popular young actor in content accessible with Google Glass. It also includes Volvo, which is instead using Google Cardboard to bring a virtual episodic test drive to the masses for a model that won’t be available in the U.S. for quite some time.
Two auto manufacturers are utilizing two distinct Google products to achieve somewhat similar goals.
That includes British car brand Jaguar, which recently debuted its British Intelligence campaign. British Intelligence includes a “cinematic” 30-second TV spot, as well as a “Why Jaguar” landing page on JaguarUSA.com with owner testimonials, as well as executions on platforms like Google Glass and SoundCloud.
According to Jaguar, British Intelligence is “an evolution” of its previous British Villains campaign for the F‑Type Coupe model, which debuted during the 2014 Super Bowl.
Joe Torpey, communications manager of Jaguar North America, said the aim of the brand’s Super Bowl spot was to reintroduce Jaguar to a U.S. audience – and grow its presence there – while “[trying] to align the Jaguar brand with things that people encounter in their everyday lives. People are really passionate about films and a common observation is that a lot of villains tend to be played by Brits.”
The brand then drew parallels between the villains’ characteristics, like stylish design and effortless cool, and its F‑Type coupe. The latest campaign expands to the complete Jaguar lineup of sedans, including its XJ, XF and XE models. The latter will be available in the U.S. in 2016.
“Some of the investment we have to do is to help put [these vehicles] on the screens of Americans because [recognition] is not as high as we would like it to be,” Torpey said.
In addition, Torpey notes the brand’s sports sedan has a more accessible price point which “allows us to expand to a segment that is a bit more youthtful,” or ages 25 to 54 with household incomes of over $150,000.
“We have to reintroduce ourselves to that generation and one of the conscious things we did was cast Hoult to tell that story,” Torpey adds.
Hoult is Nicholas Hoult, a young British actor known for his roles in movies like “Warm Bodies” and “X‑Men”, who appears in the TV spots, as well as three web films that “illustrate the rigorous quality testing that Jaguar models undergo before arriving in showrooms or hitting the road, including climate and crash testing,” the brand says.
In addition, Torpey adds, “One of the comments we heard quite a bit [about British Villains] was that it was ‘like a chapter in a film, so what’s next?’”
Torpey said that gave the brand “the creative territory to explore further, which is how we’ve arrived to cast Hoult as a tech guru, which allows us to tell a story and intrigue U.S. consumers in the market of the premium luxury segment to learn more about the brand.”
In addition, Jaguar says it will be the first auto brand to create an augmented reality experience using the Blippar app on Google Glass. Users will be able to “blip” print advertisements in Condé Nast publications to activate additional content.
Torpey said Google Glass provides a more immersive experience in which users can descend into the villains’ lair with Hoult and look around his lab, including viewing cars in more detail.
Jaguar is also the “auto-exclusive” launch partner for online audio distribution platform SoundCloud.
According to Ray Warren, digital marketing manager at Jaguar, Jaguar previously worked with Soundcloud to “promote the sounds of our cars with different sound engines” and has since partnered with audio companies and musicians to “put their sounds on our SoundCloud,” like Emeli Sande.
“We’re the only place you can actually hear that song online,” Warren said, which is another sign the brand is “embracing a younger audience.”
Torpey said an additional challenge for the brand “has been dealing with a lingering history of reliability.” However, he quickly adds, “the products today are excellent,” citing recent J.D. Power rankings.
And, he said, Jaguar’s efforts on Google Glass and Soundcloud reflect “some of the ways we come across to consumers” and “allows us to experiment as we learn how to engage with technology so we can get an experience and reach out to a more youthful [audience].”
For his part, Joe Laszlo, senior director of the Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence at the IAB, points out that Jaguar’s Google Glass application also has a more conventional smartphone component, which is probably good because, he said, “I’m not sure I would say Google Glass is a great way to connect with a youthful audience. It’s expensive, first of all, and while most millennials have a smartphone, most don’t have the budget.”
The other auto manufacturer at play is Swedish manufacturer Volvo Cars, which says it is the first automotive brand to use Google Cardboard to “transform the way businesses enable audiences to experience a product: through the lens of virtual reality via Google Cardboard.”
Google Cardboard is the self-described “no-frills enclosure that transforms a phone into a basic VR headset” and says its goal is to allow “everyone to experience virtual reality in a simple, fun, and inexpensive way.”
In fact, Laszlo calls it “kind of adorable” and says it “turns your smartphone into viewmaster viewer with stereoscopic views.”
To utilize Google Cardboard, Volvo launched its Volvo Reality app, which Linda Gangeri, manager of marketing platforms and technologies at Volvo Cars of North America, says will allow consumers to “engage in a virtual test drive long before a physical test drive” of its new XC90 model.
“After downloading the Volvo Reality app and inserting their phone in the Google Cardboard, viewers will be transported into an XC90 where they can explore and immerse themselves in the sights and sounds of the car on the open road,” Volvo says in a release.
That includes a “weekend escape” in which users are immersed “in a stunning natural landscape, the interior of the car, and the road itself.”
This escape, “Friday Getaway,” is the first in a trilogy. Future episodes will continue the journey, Volvo says.
The experience is initially available for Android “with iOS following shortly after.” “Using the app on Android and soon iOS, the consumer using the Cardboard is immersed in this incredible immersive test drive of the vehicle from the point of view of the driver,” Gangeri says. “They have the ability to experience an amazing test drive and look completely around the car, they can look outside the car and see the exterior and basically get completely immersed in everything.”
Gangeri says the brand opted to incorporate Google Cardboard because “we want to provide some type of experience that keeps [consumers] engaged over a long period of time.”
In addition, she says Google Cardboard “is so portable. Unlike Oculus Rift, we have the ability to bring it to the masses.”
“What we love about the virtual test drive is the ability to reach a younger, more tech-savvy audience,” Gangeri says.
But, whether incorporating inclusive or exclusive technology, Laszlo says experimentation is key.
“I think that there’s so much going on, it’s a very exciting time if you’re a marketer,” Laszlo says. “Especially if you’re willing to experiment a bit as well as to reach your target audience. Who’s to say what will resonate and what will not, but I definitely give credit to marketers willing to try new things and learn from them, so it’s very interesting stuff.”