Mercedes-Benz smart "The Simplest Test Drive Ever" by BBDO

Challenge
Smart by Mercedes is a perfect car for a big city with huge parking problems. In Moscow, it takes an average of 19 minutes a day for a driver to find a parking place. Yet people still try to squeeze their mid-to-large cars into limited places. Our objective was to show reluctant consumers that the Smart is an best car for parking in the big city.

The task was to drive the audience’s interest in Smart by demonstrating its amazing parking abilities. The results were to be measured by hotline calls and test drive applications.

Solution
We involved a city-wide chain of corporate self-service cafeterias called Cafetera. There are 18 Cafeteras in Moscow’s biggest business centers (total daily audience 10 000 people), a bulls-eye hit into the target audience: upper middle class white collars. The lines in Cafeteras during lunch hours are as terrible as the parking situation around them.

Idea
We noticed that just a simple 900 turn of a tray will increase the number of trays on the counter by 50%. And this is exactly how it feels to park a Smart. A simple sticker on a tray turned it into the simplest test drive ever - the effect of Smart parking is visible immediately, on the counter.

Results
Total people reached by the message: approx. 9000
Hotline calls increase vs. planned: 186%
Smart Test Drive online applications coming from Smart Twist vs. classic media ads: 26:1 ratio
Total people applying for a test drive: 85 - 250% increase vs. the monthly average
Conversion rate 70% - people applying for a Test Drive vs QR code readings
Cafetera lines efficiency increase during the promo: 38%

Credits:
Ad Agency: BBDO Moscow
Chief Creative Officer: Igor Lutz
Creative Director: Mihai Coliban
Copywriter: Victor Lander, Evgeniy Gavrilchenko
Art Director: Konstantin Tokarev
Producer: Valery Gorohov, Anna Chernaya, Denis Shushin
Account Supervisor: Christina Tancher, Anna Sokolova,
Advertiser's Supervisor: Ekaterina Geraseva
Account Manager: Yana Bader
Producer P.P.C.M Enterprise: Daria Yastrubitskaya
Director P.P.C.M Enterprise: Avdotia Alexandrova
Graphics&Animation P.P.C.M Enterprise: Timofey Alexandrov