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INNOVATIVE MARKETING FOR AN
EXCLUSIVE PRODUCT
 The Lancia Ypsilon is not
innovative merely for its content but also because of its radical marketing
approach.
Its marketing campaign is accompanied by a set of actions that have
breathed freshness and glamour into the car industry and succeeded in attracting
the attention of people who are not motoring aficionados.
From day one, this sweepingly variegated plan saw the simultaneous use of TV,
radio, press and posters with creative approaches developed specifically for
each medium.
12 press themes, 4 TV formats including 15 second mini advertising
spots on specific product features, posters with special visuals and 2 radio
broadcast themes. Plus a director's film short by Gabriele Muccino, a new
leading light in Italian cinema who Lancia brought in to interpret the world of
the Ypsilon.
When it came to the press and poster campaign, Lancia commissioned Ellen Von
Unwhert, one of the most famous photographers in the world, whose indisputable
talents allowed her to put together a magnificent collection of shots: twelve
different images able to communicate at first glance and speak the language of
their audience. Photos you can look at but also immerse yourself in. A new way
of talking about cars, using the codes normally reserved for the world of luxury
items and high fashion products.
Lancia also went one step further and organised Sinning Parties in five of the
most fashionable Italian destinations prior to the first model deliveries:
Alassio, Forte dei Marmi, Venice, Milano Marittima and Porto Cervo.
Similar projects have been put on in Europe. In Germany, for example, we
arranged a joint venture with the TV show 'Sex and the City', that took us to
the heart of the world of the Ypsilon, its customers and their lifestyle. For
seven evenings over July and August, the car was premiered at certain exclusive
venues.
In Italy, a travelling tour entitled 'Ciak&Drive' offered evenings at the cinema
in the major cities. The public was able to attend drive-ins with maxi-screens
offering a capacity of about 200 cars per show and the Italian preview of the
film 'Confidence'. In addition, that same venue was transformed from 9 am to 7
pm into an Ypsilon Village where it was possible to appreciate the qualities of
the car in test drives and safe driving tests with the aid of a specialised
instructor.
'Ypsilon and fashion' are now irreversibly linked both in terms of communication
and also in the way of presenting the product. This is evident in the 'Printemps'
marketing campaign in Paris, the first car sales outlet to be set up within a
prestigious department store. This showroom sees the Ypsilon presented in its
most favourable light in the favourite haunts of its target audience.
The same thing has also been going on for some months in Corso Como 14 in Milan
where the house of 'Miss Y', a virtual character inspired by her target
audience, was initially built but which has now become an exclusive showroom: 'Ypsilon
- Made in Italy'. Here the public can receive all the technical and sales
information on the model and also take part in exclusive events, exhibitions and
meetings with famous personalities from the world of entertainment, sport and
culture.
Finally, Lancia's pocket flagship has been the star of a bubbly and original
promotional campaign created by Agenzia 515 of Turin. The campaign was run in
the leading Italian cities and many other European locations, always before the
sales launches.
This was one of the biggest viral marketing campaign conducted in Italy in 2003,
borne out by a total of more than 130,000 items distributed in 7 cities:
stickers with the Ypsilon logo, screen-printed PVC discs. Special glass stickers
were also put up on the windows of the best and trendiest shops and venues.
Inside, potential customers could find flip books that depicted the subject of
small temptations by means of sequential images.
A series of truly unique, original projects, therefore, which are based on viral
marketing techniques that owe their name to the way messages about a brand are
circulated spontaneously as part of a chain reaction.
This intriguing form of Chinese whispers spreads a concept rather than a
particular product. The campaign thus aimed to involve a young target in an
unusual, stylish and irreverent way ahead of the conventional press and TV
campaigns. The campaign aroused the desire for and curiosity about the Y logo
and allowed potential customers to discover the values Lancia wishes to convey
for its new pocket flagship: exclusivity, class and elegance. |
