Scott Goodson writes...
The first client we had at StrawberryFrog was the smart car in
Europe. In 1999, we were a fledgling new agency on the west coast of
Europe - in Amsterdam.
One of the reasons why the smart car's launch in the USA will be interesting to watch is because of how it was positioned then. Plus the 'cool factor' and the buzz that the brand established in Europe during it's early years. It carried the profile and cache of a culture-defining lifestyle brand.
Back in 1998, the MCC (Micro Car Company) was co-owned by Swatch and Daimler Chrysler. If you look at the smart logo and the swatch logo you will see similarities, such as the same typography and same small use of the small lettering. In fact, name smart (which is supposed to be spelled lower case) is an acronym for Swatch Mercedes ART.
We collaborated with a Swiss-based agency, with the Hayaek family (the owners of Swatch) and Daimler Chrysler. The head of marketing was the former CMO of ESPRIT fashion brands, based in Germany.
Right from the start the maverick Nicholas Hayek had an idea, an extraordinary idea. An idea that in his mind would change the way we humans - especially us urban humans - lived and transported each other.
Hayaek's idea was not to launch a car, but to launch something he called the "Mobility Concept." The mobility concept was a rethink of how we as humans transport ourselves and our families in urban environments. It was a rethink on how we could own a vehicle in an urban environment.
Hayaek had managed to negotiate with Swiss urban authorities enabling smart to be the first car to have special parking facilities at train stations in the city. Small compact parking spaces were developed for commuters who would leave their cars at the station, jump the train and head home. Hayaek had started to negotiate with Sixt, the major European car rental firm, about the idea of enabling smart car owners to use full size Mercedes vehicles on the weekends to transport their families. This made a lot of sense to Hayaek since European Car rental firms have parking lots full of full size cars on the weekends, so what better way to use dead car time than to wrap it up into the Mobility Concept.
So smart mobility was - in a nutshell - you bought a smart. You got special urban parking privileges. You could use full size Mercedes on the weekend.
The target for this brand and its Mobility Concept were European urban Gen Xers. Young, stylish, cool, with abundant cash and an appetite for something a little more unconventional than a VW Golf.
The launch communications concept for the smart was a line that felt like a sentence out of Mr. Hayaek’s mouth: “Reduce to the Max!”
This was his plan for cutting through the traffic and boredom of Europe’s cities.
Distribution was also very different from the average car companies. Slim towers of gleaming glass and stainless steel were located on the outskirts of major European cities. Designed as elegant and narrow architectural packages, they popped on the horizon and generated a lust to want to come inside to look at the candy.
Hayaek had another brilliant idea. He saw the cars as fashion statements not cars. They were to be worn. Easy to snap on plastic panels in all the swatch colors were available on the original smart cars. So you could wear pink during the day and at night pop on black for a night out on the town. My favorite was bright yellow.
The brilliance behind the smart launch however was a brand book, a visual bible of words and feelings and images which brought to life the smart brand in a way that to this day I have never seen another car come close to doing. It was designed by a maverick creative mind in Zurich and it was our red thread along which we did our work.
The first year was extraordinary. I got to work with some of the most incredible people I’ve ever worked with. People who are attracted to the launch of a new phenomenon. Brilliant people inside Mercedes Benz, innovative minds that were honestly trying to reinvent the car business with a lovely point of view, stylish and very connected marketers from swatch. It was a blast.
The consultants did all the targeting, and predicted that smart would hit all GenX targets with a lifestyle brand that was super cool. At the end of our first year under contract with smart, the average smart buyer in Europe was +60 who had a Porsche as his first car. Go figure.
But the buzz has remained strong. And our work for smart landed us into the finals of the $200M Daimler Chrysler Mitsubishi Motors pitch against BBDO, Grey, Havas and Asatsu.
I love smart and I look forward to seeing them on American roads very soon.
This probably is the smartest idea to launch the smart car. But how precisely did StrawberryFrog reach the consumer, that is, other than those big flashy buildings on the outskirts? What was the general advertising vehicle, I hear they don't really use T.V advertising in a big way.
Posted by: Arun | February 27, 2008 at 08:14 AM
Where are the calls from the rabbid dog left for withdrawal? Where are their calls for am exit strategy? Where are their calls for a timeline?
Posted by: costa rica investments | July 31, 2010 at 02:50 PM