Renault Mexico recently ran a digital campaign – for the debut of the brand’s new model, the Stepway 2012 – targeting younger consumers in Mexico City who were interested in buying their first car. The initiative centered around a contest located on the brand’s Facebook page, and resulted in an impressive amount of unique visitors to branded content online, and a significant number of qualified leads.
The digital media campaign was aimed at consumers ages 25-40 – college graduates, most likely avid internet users – and designed to boost awareness of the new Renault model, to generate leads, and lure consumers into the dealership for a test drive.
Consumers in Mexico are reluctant to give up personal information online and very “security-conscious,” as reported by eMarketer. A big challenge for the campaign was convincing consumers to provide enough contact information that the dealership would be able to follow up with them, and invite them for a test drive.
The brand used a rich media banner campaign to draw consumers to the Facebook contest. Placed on car-related sites in Mexico with heavy traffic – including YouTube, Yahoo! Autos, Terra Autos, and MSN’s homepage and auto section – the interactive banner featured a DJ’s turntable, and allowed users to scratch the record on their own if they provided their email address. The banner was supported by a short TV ad and some print ads.
Once users submitted their email address through the interactive banner ad, they were emailed an invitation to the Renault contest website. The contest – posted on the brand’s Facebook page – was composed of four activities revolving around the car: a Stepway trivia quiz, a parking challenge, a create-your-own-postcard of where you could travel with the Stepway, and a compose-a-jingle race. In addition to these fun challenges, the contest boasted some pretty sweet prizes: 1st place won a Stepway, 2nd place received a Macbook Pro, and the third place winner received an iPad.
To participate in the contest, users had to provide their name, age, postal code, email and telephone number – this information then went to the dealership nearest them, and led to an offer of a test drive. The contest winner was then determined by who finished first and with the highest combined score, with scores being based on the number of “likes” a person accrued. Players could win extra points by using the dealer contact form to request a test drive.
The results of the campaign – during August and September 2011 – were impressive. There were 500,000 unique visits to Renault’s Stepway site and the brand’s Facebook page, and 1,800 qualified leads who provided detailed personal information and took a test drive. The campaign cost $10 per lead, and led to an 8% sales conversion rate following the campaign.
Wendy Delgado, Renault’s digital marketing manager in Mexico, told eMarketer that the campaign “taught us that we can measure everything, and that social media is very important.” Based on these results, Renault increased Delgado’s budget a whopping 60% for 2012.
