Jaguar Jumpstarts Multi-Channel Campaign for F-Type

Jaguar is increasing its marketing efforts on social and mobile for the F-Type, its first “true two-seat sports car” in the North American market in about 50 years. Social media is playing a big part in Jaguar’s multi-channel campaign, as the brand uses TV spots, sponsored entertainment, and digital advertisements to encourage fans to enter a contest for a chance to win a “test drive of a lifetime” behind the steering wheel of the new car.

As the F-Type begins arriving at U.S. retailers this month with a starting price of $69,000, Jaguar’s campaign will gain momentum across TV, film, print, digital, mobile, and tablet channels. Using the hashtag #MyTurnToJag, fans of the F-Type can submit a story explaining why they should be selected to win one of the four test drives that Jaguar plans to uniquely curate for a winner in the metropolitan areas of New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Chicago.

Joe Torpey, communications manager at Jaguar North America, tells ClickZ that the F-Type isn’t only the carmaker’s first two-seat sports car in about 50 years. “When you think about it from a halo product perspective, it’s probably the most significant from us in that timeframe as well,” he says. “This is really this generation’s turn to enjoy a two-seat Jaguar sports car…We also think that the platform is pretty flexible because the interpretation of ‘your turn’ could be it’s your turn to test drive, and it could also be your turn to reward yourself with a fantastic car like this.”

To succeed and drive sales of the F-Type, Jaguar must break through the cluttered auto market in the United States in a way that also helps it overcome the challenges that come with a significantly lower budget for media spend than many of its competitors. The company wants to reach the target audience for the F-Type while being “disruptive in a creative way,” Torpey adds. “We think the way to do that is with fewer, bigger, better integrations with some core partners that have real strengths in the different channels that they represent.”

Jaguar’s digital advertising plan includes a mix of basic banner ads, home page takeovers with The New York Times, Yahoo, and ESPN, and a variety of rich media ads that can be expanded to include video and stories of Jaguar’s heritage in the sports-car market. “We have those experiences built into some of the banner creative because we realize that it’s a lot to assume that we’re going to get people to stop what they’re doing and come into our site to basically spend a lot of time to investigate and dive deep,” he explains.

A home page takeover ad that ran on Yahoo earlier this week generated approximately 150 million impressions over a 24-hour span, according to Jaguar. Jaguar is primarily focusing its social media efforts on Twitter and Facebook because “that’s where the conversations take place,” Torpey adds. The company has increased its mobile presence through more premium ad placements, including home page takeovers on sites visited via mobile and tablet device. Overall, Jaguar increased its mobile spend by 30 percent for the “Your Turn” campaign.

“For us it’s really about trying to celebrate and encourage brand advocacy, and to get people talking and generate word-of-mouth because we know word-of-mouth is the most important way to drive purchase consideration. And social media is this fantastic channel that we can leverage, and if we give them something to talk about, light that fire, spark that conversation, really the product is strong and it resonates – it just goes on from there,” he says.

“The social element is really neat because now you have a chance to engage with an audience that in some ways rivals your core digital platforms, but also enhances it and contributes to it. So if you learn how to leverage those two things and understand what they’re best for, that’s when you can really get the plan to sing. Tapping into the above-the-line to drive interest and excitement below-the-line in social is critical.”