Background

With limited showroom floors in the land-starved city of Hong Kong, car brands have taken to holding hundreds of in-mall car shows each year to get their latest vehicles in front of consumers. Because of the frequency of these car shows, they’re put together without much thought. Park cars in a mall, put salespeople next to the cars and hopefully sell cars – simple, time-tested and boring. When Mercedes-Benz launched their newest EV, the EQA, with an in-mall car show, they needed something exciting to stand out. They also wanted to make sure that the EQA would become the most desirable and coolest EV in a crowded market. The objectives were to create a 3-day in-mall car show that would attract a large audience, generate sales leads and ultimately move EQA inventory.

Describe the creative idea

We looked to the power of music to attract a newer and younger generation of EV drivers toward the entry level EQA. The EQA Jukebox installation, created for the ‘Electrified: Mercedes-Benz EQA Car Show’, harnessed the power of lightning to play Billboard’s hottest songs. That’s right, we made electricity sing! At the core of the live musical installation were 2 Electrical Resonant Coils that emitted 200,000 Watts of electricity to play hits like The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights, Dua Lipa’s Levitating and more. We captivated a live audience of mallgoers in the thousands, over 3 days, and made the EQA the star of the electric music show by putting it center stage. The EQA Jukebox also featured an activation element; the audience used a WhatsApp Chatbot coupled to a QR code to select their favourite electric songs to play.

Describe the strategy

Electric vehicle motors sound boring. So Mercedes-Benz gave electricity a powerful new sound by harnessing 200,000 Watts of electricity with Electrical Resonant Coils to play Billboard’s hottest songs. Targeting the youthful mass-affluent segment of buyers, including those venturing into the world of EVs for the first time, we knew music was at the heart of everything they did. On Instagram, millions post dance challenges featuring the latest hit songs. On social gaming like Fortnite, platforms have become a stage for virtual concerts. So we married music with the ‘Electric’ in Electric Vehicles, creating singing electricity to finally make electric sound cool! Then we built an installation that was an Instagram-worthy stage, featuring the EQA, to bring this musical technology to our audience.

Describe the execution

We combined various technologies to harness electricity and make it sing. We custom made 2 Electrical Resonant Coils, partnering with electrical engineers to tweak designs to make them safe for indoor and close proximity usage. We created an installation that safely contained 200,000 Watts of electricity so our audience could come within feet of the coils. We used AI to separate individual elements of songs to extract the melody, which we streamed into the coils to create electrified music. We also adapted QR codes and a WhatsApp chatbot to turn our installation into an activation that would let our audience choose the electrified songs they wanted to hear live. Then we placed the EQA Juke Box into one of Hong Kong’s busiest and largest malls, New Town Plaza, for a 3-day live musical car show experience.

Describe the outcome

Our live musical experience, featuring some of the hottest Billboard songs played with 200,000 watts of electricity, captured the attention and the imagination of thousands of mallgoers. Bringing plenty of acceptance, social shares and desire for the EQA among our fashionable young target segment. Thanks to the EQA Jukebox’s QR code + WhatsApp chatbot activation function, we were able to capture over 600 mobile phone leads for Mercedes-Benz in 3 days. All of this helped Mercedes-Benz sell their entire 2021 EQA inventory within a few weeks of the EQA Jukebox installation.