3 Automotive Brands That Nailed It with Their Facebook Campaigns

The global automotive industry is expected to grow by 205 million units by 2028 at a CAGR of 4.5% during the forecast period of 2021-28. Despite the brief economic downturn caused by COVID-19, which resulted in automotive sales contracting by 15%, the industry is set to move on an upward trajectory.

However, any revival in the state of the automotive industry would be possible only if demand is created within potential consumers. With various marketing avenues that are currently available, brands can ensure that their message resonates with their target audience. This was well demonstrated by the following three automotive brands that leveraged Facebook to boost their brand awareness and reach.

1. Nissan Motor Thailand

Founded in 1933 and headquartered in Japan, Nissan had launched their first e-powered vehicle, the Nissan Kicks e-POWER.

Their Objective

Nissan Thailand sought to find a way to boost brand awareness and build anticipation around Nissan Kicks e-POWER. Also, they wanted to encourage pre-bookings for test drives through digital channels.

Approach & Solution

Nissan Thailand launched a preliminary campaign to promote its Facebook Live event. Nissan debuted its vehicle during a 20-minute live stream, which included messages from the company’s president and marketing vice president explaining the car’s features and the science behind it.

After the Facebook Live event, Nissan Thailand ran a mobile-first video ad campaign that was optimized to boost awareness and drive consideration for Nissan Kicks e-POWER. The videos also highlighted how the vehicle was different from those of their competitors.

The Result

The Facebook Live event and mobile-first video ads campaign helped Nissan Thailand successfully reach its target audience and led to a 7-point increase in top-of-mind awareness across Facebook.

The campaign also delivered a 32% boost in brochure downloads from the brand’s website with an additional 4-point jump in ad recall across Facebook.

2. Kia Australia

Kia had launched its small SUV, the Kia Seltos, and therefore, wanted to create an impact with its launch.

Their Objective

Kia sought to boost its brand preference and then translate that into increased website visits and test drives for its latest launch, based on the proven path-to-purchase.

Approach & Solution

Kia already had a well-thought Facebook campaign strategy in place that required targeting ads to multiple audience segments and then re-engaging with them. But they wanted to try a new strategy to check if it could reduce costs while maximizing their campaign performance.

Kia’s new strategy was two-fold. Kia first targeted a broad audience and used information from its Facebook pixel to optimize key shopper actions along the proven path to purchase. They also included auction-based bidding in the campaign, which meant that Kia would get the best dynamic prices for the campaign. This meant that Facebook could automatically optimize ad placements and creatives in Kia’s dynamic ads to reach people who had the highest chance of visiting Kia’s website or booking a test drive.

Kia then developed a mobile-first campaign creative and a seamless mobile user experience that was optimized according to phone usage by people. They released 10-second videos highlighting a key feature or benefit of the Seltos along with a call to action.

The Result

The Seltos campaign turned out to be exceptionally rewarding for Kia as it led to a 4.7 point brand lift and an 18-point ad recall. Moreover, it delivered a 2.8X boost in Kia Seltos model page visits. However, the campaign’s major success came with a 2X increase in test drives for Kia Seltos.

3. Mercedes-Benz Taiwan

Mercedes-Benz Taiwan wanted to make an impact on new car enthusiasts with its new generation of performance compact cars.

Their Objective

Mercedes- Benz Taiwan sought to drive awareness amongst its younger audience, for which it wanted to engage with its consumers with a new and innovative approach.

Approach & Solution

Mercedes-Benz Taiwan partnered with agencies OMD and Leo Burnett, in collaboration with Facebook Creative Shop to run a campaign to promote its new car model, the Mercedes-AMG 35 and 45 S series. The team made the most out of the trend of augmented reality camera effects to combine both online and offline channels.

Mercedes-Benz Taiwan ran several video ads that demonstrated the car’s performance and strength while inviting viewers to a real-world car exhibit where attendees could scan the QR code to gain access to different creative augmented reality effects. This significantly increased visits to Mercedes-Benz Taiwan’s car exhibit at the event.

Moreover, they also engaged with those who couldn’t make it to the exhibit by running a campaign with Facebook Augmented Reality ads. Viewers were prompted to switch on their front-facing camera during the interaction and the ad overlaid a pair of sunglasses on the person’s selfie. This reflected an image of a Mercedes-AMG A 35 car speeding past. This helped them connect with the younger audience.

The Result

The Facebook campaign turned out to be quite fruitful for Mercedes-Benz Taiwan as it gave a substantial boost to their brand awareness and drove visits to its car exhibit. It resulted in an 11.5-point in ad recall among males between the age of 25-34. Also, there were 100,000 augmented reality impressions at the car exhibit in 11 days.

The campaign also led to a 2.9X higher participation amongst males between 25-34 years when compared to the likes on the brand’s Facebook page.

Wrapping Up

Facebook has become one of the most sought mediums for brands to reach their target audience and drive maximum awareness. With a plethora of features that Facebook offers from video ads and augmented reality ads to Facebook pixels and automatic placements, Facebook has truly emerged as a highly reliable platform for brands to get their message across to their potential consumers. All you have to do is have a solid idea about how you want to use this platform to raise awareness around your brand.