2021 Gold Automotive

Agency: Edit and Spark44

Client: Jaguar Land Rover

Campaign Name: Land Rover Defender - 'Just Add Water. And Mud. And Ruts. And Rocks...

Campaign Overview

When the manufacture of Land Rover Discovery (LR4) ceased in 2016 some customers were left alienated by its replacement.

The release of New Defender in 2019 was a chance to offer them the car they’d been waiting for.

Strategy

With dramatic interior and exterior updates, motorists feared New Defender had 'gone soft'.

So they were invited to an unmissable Land Rover Experience to prove that the new Defender was more capable than ever.

Land Rover was faced with the task of demonstrating Defender's ‘go-anywhere, do-anything’ credentials enabled by pioneering off-road technology and design.

Over time the audience had become disenfranchised with new Land Rover concepts, resulting in three-times fewer people being contactable by email than post.

Based on this information direct mail was prioritised as an invitation method for the campaign.

Creativity

On the outside, the pack asked prospects if they were ready to put the New Defender through its paces against the elements. Inside, it dramatised its class-leading 900mm wading capability.

When the DM got wet a special feature emerged. Using water-reactive hydrochromic ink printed on rugged, submersible paper, customers were invited to ‘Just add water’ to start their Defender experience.

After running it under a tap, an exclusive invitation was revealed. If the text disappeared on the pack customers could simply wet it again. This could be done multiple times and it remained intact.

A QR code and fallback URL enabled each customer to seamlessly navigate to the booking form; first to choose from one of nine experience locations across the country, followed by time and date availability.

To help convert customers to purchase, integrated systems would - upon customer attendance - create and share a lead with a customer's local retailer for follow-up; a brief audience bio helping them understand how each prospect had been qualified.

Customers would then be called within two hours of attending the event to talk about their experience and next steps.

Results

The mailpack invite enticed 1,096 customers to attend a Land Rover Experience Day - a 22% response rate, at a cost-effective £1.88 per pack (plus driving experience cost).

Eventually, 985 hot prospects attended, a rate of 89%. Customers said it had changed their perception of New Defender and helped them understand the vehicle and its features.

Leads were passed to each customer's local Land Rover retailer to follow up the experience with conversion, resulting in 147 car sales.

This was seven times the sales target, generating an ROI of 29:1.

The Team

Spark44 - Matt Statham, Creative Director - Chris McDonald, Creative Director - Carolyn Duckworth, Senior CRM Strategist - Nathan Holley, Art Director - Tom Cauvain, Copywriter - Gregg Berry, Designer - Mark Carter, Project Director - Toby Stoate, Print Production Manager - Simon Hodges, Studio Manager - Ian Talbot, Artworker - Chris Newby, Head of UK Account - Sheena Vegad, Account Director - Selena La Fleur, Senior Account Manager

Edit - Kulwarn Gill, Senior Campaign Manager - Adam Dark, Campaign Manager - Lee Jones, Campaign Manager - Kate Waterhouse, Delivery Manager - Annabelle Heap, Senior Account Manager - Emma Watson, Business Director - Thomas Ross, Account Director

Jaguar Land Rover - Phill Haines, CRM & Digital Senior Manager - Nick Edmonds, CRM Executive - Ben Cheadle, Commercial & Customer Analytics Senior Manager

Mindtree - Lenos Apostolou, Customer Analytics Senior Analyst