Mindshare's "Road to the Pro" campaign for Land Rover took home the top honours in the Best Strategic Launch and Automotive categories at the 2010 Media Federation Awards.
To coincide with the second MFA Awards call for entry deadline this week [4pm, Friday 1 July], AdNews is running examples of some of the best work from last year's Awards.
OBJECTIVES
Land Rover's Defender 90 vehicle had reached saturation point among its traditional target audience. The car, which is known for being indestructible, is favoured by farmers, mining communities and the army. However, its core audience was unlikely to buy the new model, particularly given the economic downturn and the car's reputation for longevity. As a result, Mindshare was tasked with creating a new Australian market for the Defender 90.
CAMPAIGN
With growth in rural areas tapped out, Mindshare turned its attention to fashion-conscious urbanites. With an affordable $45,000 price tage, Mindshare identified young, image-conscious consumers who valued authenticity and were keen to stand out from the crowd as the Defender 90's ideal bedfellow.
Given that 80% of Australians live within 80 miles of the sea and 50% of the country's homes sit less than eight miles from a beach, Mindshare decided to associate the car with an iconic Australian pastime - surfing.
Mindshare approached surfing brand Quiksilver and equipped six professional surfers with four Defenders and filmed them on their way to the Quiksilver Pro Event. The "Defender 90 - Road to the Pro" saw the surfers blogging on their way to the event and featured heavy Land Rover branding. It was broadcast across Nine Network, One HD, Fox Sports and Fuel TV, and blogs, videos and photos were delivered across TV, online and mobile.
RESULTS
Coverage of the content partnership reached seven million households, and attracted 220,352 views of video content, with a further 81,146 views on mobiles. The sales target was exceeded by a massive 78% and Land Rover sold out of all allocated Defender 90s in the Australian market on pre-sales alone - $1 million of sales above forecast. This was all achieved on a budget of just $300,000, which generated $1 million of media value.
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