Mitsubishi is adding “surprising venues” to its roster of tried and true events to encounter a smaller, more targeted group of potential customers whose lifestyles and aspirations fit closely with the personalities of certain vehicles.
The venues include, dog parks, trail heads for mountain biking trails and farmer’s markets. The addition of such events follows a successful test last year in Chicago by Legacy Marketing Partners.
The idea is to find and interact with a core group of people who are more likely to fit the brand’s target demographic— active people in their late 20’s and early 30’s.
This year, four months of events are being held through October in Chicago, Dallas and Philadelphia where people can get a hands-on look at the Mitsubishi Outlander GT, the Lancer Sportback and the Lancer, enter raffles and sign up for the mailing list WAYI, the acronym for the campaign’s tag line, “What Are You Into?” People can also schedule test drives at local dealerships.
In addition to these events, Mitsubishi is also making appearances at more traditional planned events, such as festivals and road races. One of the priorities while on site is CRM building. Reps collect people’s information to keep the dialog going and for lead generation.
“We really need that backbone to continue the conversation,” said Nic Rolston of Legacy Marketing Partners, which is handling the campaign. Legacy ranked No. 47 on the 2010 Promo 100, with $16.8 million in 2009 U.S. net revenue.
As part of the overall campaign, Mitsubishi is also a sponsor of City Chase USA, an eight-market urban adventure where teams of two work together to solve challenges that are part obstacle course and part scavenger hunt. The teams solve riddles to that direct them to certain locations where they take a challenge and receive a stamp and must get 10 to advance. The teams are only allowed to walk, run or take public transportation, but if they spot a Mitsubishi Outlander they can flag it down and be transported up to one mile. One of the challenges actually takes place within the vehicle, car-eoke, where the contestants must complete a sing-along so everyone experiences the sound system. One winner from each market heads to the finals in Orlando. The overall winner receives an Outlander Sport.
Under another component of the campaign, a Web series, follows four legs of the national “M-Gen Road Trip,” where participants travel around the country in a 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport to discover “what people are in to” and getting people to test drive the Outlander. Tommy—discovered through a casting call by Legacy—hosts the Webisodes at www.whatareyouinto.net and on the Mitsubishi YouTube channel. Bloggers write about the cars, which are loaded to them for a week.
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