The Campaign

As Goodyear China launched their new SUV (4WD) tire, our challenge lay in creating an engaging campaign in a low involvement category. The typical Chinese SUV driver is a successful middle-aged man with a family. They take pride in their wealth and social status, but work pressure and the stress of busy city life often leaves them yearning for peace and simplicity. We uncovered that while they believe real luxury is enjoying quiet time with loved ones, the reality is the frantic pace of modern life with little chance to stop and reflect. As Goodyear’s new SUV tire was their quietest ever, this answered what our drivers are longing for; ‘Quietness, a Time to Listen’. Our core idea used 30-second nostalgic films capturing moments of quiet contemplation to spark discussion on social media about where people find quietness in their own lives, and trigger action to buy a quality tire that can help them recapture those peaceful moments while driving. Sales of the Goodyear SUV tire beat targets by 14% for the three months of the campaign, when no other marketing campaigns were taking place, proving that engagement from 8 million video interactions (double our target) effectively translated into sales.

The Brief

A single-minded focus on tire sales, to meet forecasts for first 3 months of launch. Communication Objectives: - Announce the launch of Goodyear’s new SUV tire - Convince our target audience that this is “Goodyear’s quietest SUV tire ever” - Drive immediate purchase consideration Audience Profile: China’s urban SUV drivers are predominantly male, aged 35-45, hard-working successful professionals, proud of their wealth and social status. Their SUV is a refuge offering privacy and escape. They feel caught up in hectic urban living, under pressure to excel, and long for a peaceful life, more family time, and chance for quiet contemplation.

Results

Sales of the new Goodyear tire BEAT THE FORECAST by 14% for the three months of the campaign, during which time no other Goodyear brand campaigns were taking place. To measure how well we drove a path to sales, online survey research indicated 94% of the 1100 respondents would consider Goodyear for their next tire purchase after seeing this campaign. Communications reach included: - Over 8 million viewership of the four SUV Man's Diary microfilms at the campaign minisites (195% of KPI), - Over 56,000 engagements with the campaign on Sina Weibo microblog. (188% of KPI) - The level of active participants in the Sina Weibo discussion was 84%, which is 210% higher than the industry benchmark (according to third party IWOM monitoring company, CIC)

Execution

Core idea: emotive 30-second films to trigger online discussion. Microfilms Four ‘SUV Man’s Diary’ microfilms present a touching glimpse into the man’s thoughts as he enjoys precious moments of quiet contemplation while driving his SUV with his family. The first video premiered at the product launch; the remaining three coincided with Family Day, Children’s Day, and Fathers’ Day. Social media At the campaign minisite on Tudou.com, netizens watched the microfilms and shared stories about finding quietness in their own lives. Most conversation occurred on Sina Weibo, fueled by a content-driven approach around the microfilms. Celebrity engagement Seven celebrities, including successful playwright Caishen Ning, and famous relationship expert and writer Qi Lu, and 5 influential auto-related KOLs were engaged to drive microblog conversation on ‘Quietness, a Time to Listen’. Auto websites On top auto sites, Xcar, Autohome and PCauto, the microfilms created interaction and banner advertisements directed netizens to the minisite.

The Situation

This April, Goodyear China launched their new SUV tire. The EfficientGrip SUV is Goodyear’s quietest SUV tire ever, created in response to rising demand from China’s increasing number of mid- to high-end urban SUV drivers. A limited budget required agency creativity to make it feel like a big budget launch. As tires are in a low interest, low involvement category the main challenge was how to create a campaign that consumers would find engaging. Our opportunity lay in finding a way to connect the product and its key benefits to consumers’ lives in a way that would resonate with them.

The Strategy

Based on our insight that our target audience’s lifestyle leaves them longing for tranquility, we leveraged the primary product benefit of quietness, under the theme ‘Quietness, a Time to Listen’, to narrate a series of simple yet emotive video stories to spark online conversation by making our target audience consider their own life, relationships and emotional needs. Our target audience is older than the average social media user, but our online consumer behavior survey identified that they spend more time on video sharing sites (e.g. Tudou.com), SNS sites and Sina Weibo microblog. We placed the videos on our audience’s favorite social media platforms and engaged the support of online opinion leaders to drive a two-way conversation. We wanted our audience to actively consider and discuss the issue, not simply listen to Goodyear’s opinion. We leveraged appropriate family celebrations including International Family Day, Children’s Day, and Fathers’ Day to release films.