We were briefed to launch YesAuto, a new car online marketplace into the UK, using the brand’s unique Virtual Car Show experience to drive mass awareness of the site in a cluttered market.
There are many ways of buying a new car online in the UK, all saying they are the best way to do it. Plus, at the time of launch, the UK had been in lockdown and restrictions for five months so we were contending with a population who were not only not going anywhere, but were also used to and numb to ‘virtual’ experiences.
We first did a deep dive into the audience we needed to target in order to understand what made them tick and what would engage people in a new car buying site. By doing this we identified that we needed to talk to two specific audiences; car lovers (for whom cars were a major interest) and car pragmatics (for whom it was about, quite literally finding, a way to get from A to B). We then developed two specific strategies to help launch the brand to these two different audiences.
For car lovers we focused on the Virtual Car Show, positioning it as the ultimate way to get close to the hottest new cars launches and latest car news from the safety of your home.
For the car pragmatics we looked into the barriers to and concerns people have around the car buying process to help highlight how YesAuto could make it easier and more enjoyable than ever to buy cars.
We hosted media briefings and previews with press that we knew appealed to car fans and lovers demonstrating the Virtual Car Show and holding interviews with key spokespeople to open up the Car Show to media and engage their readers in the show.
We then commissioned consumer research drawing parallels between buying a car and activities known to be stressful such as starting a new job, moving house or going on a first date to identify where car buying came on the stressful scale. We then packaged this story up for news highlight how YesAuto could help alleviate the stress.
15 national hits of coverage hitting everything from news and features right through to the business pages
Landed the launch on the front page of Forbes
Multiple hits in car focused media and blogs
