Crowdsourcing Vehicle Design

The current economic downturn has forced a number of the major OEM's to rethink their marketing efforts, and in some cases, the business models that define them. At the same time, there are a number of new startups that are challenging the market with innovative new thinking, processes and technologies. Still, it doesn't appear that anyone has the perfect answer.
 
Here's a new one to consider: Crowdsourcing vehicle design. Massachusetts-based startup Local Motors has a business model that is unlike anything I have ever seen in the automotive world, and I think it has the potential to change the way car design, development and yes, marketing will work in the future.
 

 
For those that aren't familiar with crowdsourcing, Wikipedia defines it as the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to a group of people or community in the form of an open call. With Local Motors, users can register on the site to upload their own vehicle designs or vote on the designs of others. Once one design is chosen as a base, Local Motors develops the vehicle from top to bottom with the support of the community at large. For the physical assembly, the company invites owners out to their micro-factory (oh yeah, you get to help choose where that is as well) to help build it over the course of two weekends.
 

 
This concept has massive potential to succeed for a couple key reasons. For one, the emotional connection between car and owner is massive. Anything you've contributed to on this level is something you're bound to be proud of. That pride translates to tons of word-of-mouth about the experience that will likely bring in new customers. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, I think this concept eliminates something that has plagued many American automakers (GM, Chrysler) lately: producing products that nobody wants to buy. Here you have a built in mechanism that pushes through only the concepts and ideas that appeal to the public, ensuring that the end product is something that leaves nothing to be desired. Marketing these vehicles should be no sweat!
 
If you haven't heard of Local Motors, you will soon. The budding company is actively involved in social media and interactive media, although their efforts to brand them are a little disjointed at this point. As a startup, I imagine their efforts have largely been focused on product development and operations, and not as much on marketing, although it should be said that they've been deploying contests and giveaways as an effort to increase the wingspan of the brand. It will be interesting to see how this company grows and if their marketing efforts gel over time. For now, follow them on Twitter, become a fan of theirs on Facebook and check out their blog.

by Garret Ohm

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The Teaser: Alive and Well In Automotive Marketing

[The following is an article originally posted via my Examiner column on automotive marketing which can be found here: http://bit.ly/zFaQe]

It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book for launching a new, highly anticipated product, but it’s still alive and well in automotive marketing. Indeed, the slow tease has become a staple in the arsenal of an increasing number of automakers lately. Acura did it with the ZDX. Lotus did it with the Evora (Eagle). Tesla killed us with the Model S. Rolls Royce tortured the insanely rich with a little Ghost tease. And now Audi’s decided get in on the fun and tease us with a little peek at the potential redesign of their flagship, the A8. It’s the “it” thing right now, and I'm guessing it'll stay that way.

But why are so many automakers turning to the tease as they launch new products? Aside from the fact that it usually escalates the level of anticipation in the market, I think they’re realizing that when they release their products in small, vague doses they can take advantage of massive amounts of media coverage available via blogs and automotive news sites like Jalopnik, GoTryke, Autoweek, Autopia, Motortrend, etc. that are rabidly covering ALL of the developments in the automotive world. And those combined with conversation on Twitter, Facebook and all of the other social media tools, the word-of-mouth generated is immense.

I love this as a tactic for a product reveal. Especially when given a unique twist, like the Lotus Evora, where the automaker sent press outlets a series of images of the technologies and components that made the car innovative, rather than just images of the design itself (That's called sticking to the brand message). One thing I’m hoping to see is a teaser campaign that ties in better with interactive media. We’ve seen microsites that release the teaser images, but none that integrate in a meaningful way with a cohesive social media or guerilla marketing effort.

Interested in hearing more of our innovative thoughts on what the perfect automotive teaser campaign might look like? Contact me via our website - http://www.sutter-group.com - or send me an email: garret [at] sutter-group [dot] com.

by Garret Ohm

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Garret Ohm Named Natl Auto Mktg Examiner

I'm proud to announce that after applying for the role of National Automotive Marketing Examiner for Examiner.com several weeks ago, I was recently given the green light to start writing. The column will focus on trends in automotive marketing in the United States and sometimes even around the world. I was motivated to write this column because if there's two industries I absolutely love they are automotive and marketing.

But more importantly, I think there's tons to write about right now. The big players are struggling to stay afloat, there's a constant debate over the future of vehicle technology, and all the while the new kids on the block (Tesla, Fisker, Coda, Aptera) jockey for position as the future of the automobile. The result is some pretty interesting marketing that's taking place. I wanted to share the first article I wrote about one of the darling startups of the automotive industry, Tesla Motors. You can read the full article HERE. I'd love your comments and thoughts, and please do add my page to your Google Reader or bookmarks! 

Why Did Tesla Tweet, Then Stop?

Of the many brands that I’ve engaged with on Twitter, Tesla Motors comes to mind as the one brand that has really used Twitter as a tool to catapult itself from relative obscurity into the limelight. As an auto enthusiast wholly enthralled with the industry's move toward clean technology, I had heard of Tesla before Twitter but didn’t really have any real familiarity with the brand until I started following @TeslaMotors. They used the account often to discuss the company's advancements, interact with the early-adopting public, and build excitement for their upcoming products. They even gave public updates of their Roadster deliveries, invigorating investors and making gear heads like me want one even more. They built quite a lot of momentum with the account and did so pretty quickly, building their list of followers to well over 9,000 people, many of which were, by default, exactly the type of people Tesla was hoping to reach — technology savvy, early-adopting entrepreneurs.

Unfortunately, a very peculiar thing happened late last Fall. With the tweet “Chris Paine gets his Roadster!" @TeslaMotors went silent. For some strange reason that tweet started a drought of nearly six months—a period that included the high-profile unveiling of their highly anticipated Model S sedan. At a time when you’d expect they’d be working hard to court investors and encourage buyers to put down their $5,000 deposits for a Model S (and fund future production), they said nothing.

I'm happy to report that in the last few weeks, Tesla has resumed Tweeting, although not engaging on the level it once was, with recent tweets touting mainly news releases or blog posts. It really makes me curious as to what happened to @TeslaMotors during the “dark” period? Why did they seemingly give up on an outlet that has the potential to reach so many potential investors, buyers and brand ambassadors? I suppose folks at Tesla are the only ones that know the real answer (and they’re welcome to answer here).

If you have any ideas or theories, please feel free to leave a comment here!

by Garret Ohm

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Volvo Proves They’re Not Just Safety On Wheels

Long seen as the safest “box on four wheels”, Volvo wants people to know they have some pretty solid performance design chops and can make their way around the track plenty fast, thank you very much. In order to do so, they’ve commissioned a game developer to develop a high intensity online game called “Volvo-The Game” 

Despite the lackluster name, I think this is going to be a brilliant way to bring Volvo, and specifically the S60 concept, to the forefront for a more performance-minded audience — and an audience that may never have considered the purchase of a Volvo otherwise. By offering the game up for free on their website and encouraging consumers to compete for real prizes, Volvo has effectively ensured that this game will go viral.

I’m not sure what else Volvo has planned for the game, but this would be a perfect opportunity to engage with the auto enthusiast community through social media — blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. It would also likely be good to support the game with a presence at automotive events like races and auto shows, where consumers can take a test-drive of the new game for prizes. Really, the ideas on how to maximize the effectiveness and reach of this effort are endless.

All told, this could be a much more economical (yet more effective) alternative to a mass market advertising campaign. Want to explore viral games for your brand? I know a company that has put together a few shining examples of the games they've put together HERE, HERE and HERE.

by Garret Ohm

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Smart Promotion From Smart

Living just over the Washington DC border in Maryland I see my fair share of Smart Cars. I can’t say that I honestly like the vehicles they produce, but they certainly serve a purpose—to fit places where other regular size cars can’t. Smart has always been proud of its positioning and it has been the focus of all of their marketing efforts to date—which is why the Smart-branded URL shortener found at http://url.so-smart.be/ makes so much sense. Although there must be over a hundred URL shorteners in existence, this is one of the first commercial applications that I've seen that makes sense and serves to drive home a brand's core positioning. 

Judging by the .be domain and the corresponding microsite, http://so-smart.be, this campaign looks to be focused on Europe where citizens are much more receptive to micro-cars. Even still, the positioning is strong and if they continue to drive home the benefits of having a small, purpose-built car in an urban area, I think they’ll sell a lot of these.

by Garret Ohm

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