Mitsubishi Motors | Work

Background

Mitsubishi Motors was set to launch its all-new 2022 Outlander, the best-equipped, most-connected vehicle the company has ever sold in Canada.

Services

Strategic Media Planning
Media Testing, Optimizing and Reporting
Media Vendor Relations

Challenge

Thanks to the global pandemic, consumer buying habits were changing quickly – and marketing budgets were tighter than ever. This meant we had to take a non-traditional approach to our media plan.

An extraordinary buy for unprecedented times.

In Spring 2021, Mitsubishi Motors was set to launch its all-new 2022 Outlander, the best-equipped, most-connected vehicle the company has ever sold in Canada. There was only one problem: a global pandemic. Traditionally, vehicle launches were seen in prime time. But with budgets not being what they were pre-COVID, and consumer habits changing completely overnight, Mitsubishi needed to do something unprecedented. These were unprecedented times, after all.

Get into out. And off of TV.

Replacing Linear TV from any media buy isn’t easy, especially in automotive. But we knew a YouTube-only launch strategy could mimic the reach and frequency of broadcast tactics. We scaled reach on YouTube in Canada – similar to a traditional TV buy – but at a far more cost-effective CPM/GRP. And to create an ideal YouTube media mix, we needed cost-efficient reach to get in front of as many users as possible. High-profile elements like YouTube Mastheads and Trueview for Reach on Connected TV helped elevate the brand in premium placements.

Standout results.

Our YouTube strategy was an incredible success. Brand Lift studies showed a strong lift in Brand Health. In English Canada, we saw a 23% lift in Ad Recall and drove a 10% Search Uplift for Outlander-related keywords. And in French Canada, we saw an 8% lift in Brand Awareness and 7% lift in Ad Recall. Best of all, we reached the Outlander’s early sales targets with 30% of the entire year’s volume in just three months.