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Maruti Suzuki keeps people guessing about 'The Wow Car'
The automobile giant ran a teaser campaign across digital and outdoor for the launch of the all-new Estilo
Integrated campaigns are clearly the way brand advertising is headed. Brands are tying one medium with another to double the benefit and effect of the communication. Outdoor advertising, for one, has been used effectively to lure consumers to not just stores and outlets, but to websites as well.
Maruti Suzuki is trying this route to unveil the improved version of the compact car, Estilo. The facelift gives the Estilo a new grille and re-profiled front and rear bumpers. The car will have the new generation K-Series engine, which is more powerful and fuel efficient.
A site called www.guessthewowcar.com was created with the aim to engage Netizens in a contest, wherein they were asked to guess the name of the 'wow car' by playing a few games, such as a crossword, riddle and a special Wow Game. As part of the latter, the player is supposed to click on the moving car that zips across the screen, taking a small snapshot to help him/her guess correctly. If the view is satisfactory, the gamer is free to guess the car by filling up a form. Otherwise, the game allows one to take more snapshots of the car.
Shashank Srivastava, chief general manager of marketing, Maruti Suzuki, tells afaqs!, "The all-new Estilo comes as a result of extensive consumer research conducted across the TG of young men/women in the age group of around 30 years, who are sophisticated, ambitious and urbane. The 'wow' factor highlighted in our teaser campaign conveys the extent of transformation both on the exterior and interior of the new car.
Moreover, 'wow' is the feeling that people will experience as we unveil the car today."
According to Srivastava, the company chose digital and OOH media as they are much more cost-effective than press and television. He reveals that just a day before the launch, the number of contest forms submitted on the website were more than 15,000. Also, he feels that the outdoor campaign targeted at the general public generated lot of interest.
Another recent example of a brand drawing traffic in to its website with the help of innovative and attractive outdoors was Lipton Yellow Label. The brand launched the 'world's largest' collaborative online jigsaw puzzle at www.stay-sharp.in in April this year. Ogilvy Activation made entire hoardings look like jigsaw puzzles for this, which directed people to participate by visiting the site.