Mercedes-Benz CLA trailer
Instagram and Facebook followers have viewed the trailer composed of these three scenes, and now it is up to them to complete the rest of the short film. As of press time, Mercedes-Benz UK had 2,670 Instagram followers, but the men involved in the completed parts of the film have many more: Mr. Corden had 38,679, Mr. Brutenic had 28,570, Mr. Siftar had 266,473 and Mr. Hinton had 68,044.
As an incentive, contestants have a chance to win a Canon 6D Digital SLR with 24-105mm lens and to drive CLA AMG Sport for a week. The winner of each scene also receive a GoPro.
The quantity of Instagram users that can and will witness the hashtag and video campaign will likely exceed Mercedes-Benz UK’s 2,670 followers.
Gradual marketing
Instagram campaigns are not new to luxury car brands.
For example,
BMW of North America allowed fans to reserve one of 29 thirtieth anniversary BMW M5s to be sold in the United States exclusively through information revealed on Instagram.
Interested consumers were asked to follow the brand’s Instagram account to access a gradually revealed reservation phone number. BMW’s attempt to stitch Instagram into the broader commerce tapestry speaks to a much larger and rapidly progressing trend (
see story).
Instagram creates a platform that allows companies to spread a campaign across many images or videos and throughout many hours or even days. Also, the socially-sourced concept allows consumers to develop a deeper connection by interacting with the brand.
L2 Think Tank’s latest social media report makes the case that Instagram is beginning to outstrip veteran platforms because of its proliferating and attractive user base, high engagement levels and ecommerce conducive format (
see story).
Mercedes-Benz UK is creating a platform that will likely gain more followers by encouraging consumers on its other social pages to participate.
"The benefits of an Instagram campaign like #CLAStory is for Mercedes UK to engage with its customers – both their current, loyal Mercedes customers, as well as, the aspirational Mercedes customer," Ms. Kirk said.
"With the brand having only 2,700 followers and just 126 posts on Instagram, they cannot expect a large audience participation right out of the gates," she said. "However, it's campaigns like this that can help the brand not only engage with their customer, but also help build up their audience numbers so that over time, each successive campaign becomes more and more impactful."
Final TakeNancy Buckley, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York
