Trends + Trendsetters The Best in Automotive Content Marketing

NewsCred Trends + Trendsetters

NewsCred’s Strategy Team helps brands build and hone their content strategies, taking into consideration marketing goals, brand positioning and

the competitive landscape.

Our Trends + Trendsetters guides aim to educate marketers on trends,

opportunities and content strategies that best-in-class brands are utilizing to

engage their audiences. In this guide, we’ll take a look at content marketing

in the automotive industry.

Interested in learning more? We’d love to hear from you! Feel free to reach

out at strategy@newscred.com

- Liz Bedor, Associate Brand Strategist, NewsCred

In a recent study by J.D. Power and Associates, new-vehicle owners were asked to cite the

reasons they chose a particular make and model of a vehicle they purchased.

Of the 10 reasons most frequently cited?

“Like the image the vehicle portrays”

So what if your automotive brand doesn’t portray the image you want?

Content marketing can help.

In this guide, we’ll take a look at three automotive brands leveraging content

marketing to transform their brand perception and engage their desired audiences.

Lincoln Now The Lincoln Motor Company

According to research by Polk, an automotive market research firm, the average Lincoln buyer is older than the buyers of any other

luxury car brand.

Wanting to introduce itself to sophisticated, younger drivers, Lincoln decided to reimagine

tradition through content that is interesting enough to grab attention on its own merit.

Source: Adage, ‘Content Marketing: It’s Not About Shock, but Good Storytelling’

“

We know it’s important to authentically engage customers

according to their lifestyle.

- ANDREW FRICK - Group Marketing Manager

Lincoln

”

Introducing: Lincoln Now Site lives at www.now.lincoln.com A comprehensive storytelling platform designed to celebrate individuality. Features intriguing artisans, makers and craftspeople in the fields of art, design, fashion cuisine, engineering and more.

Content topics are a balance between luxury and culture and Lincoln automobiles and brand history.

Auto Shows Future Vehicles

Heritage Lincoln Artisans

Lincoln Automobiles

Film Ideas Music

Architecture Detroit Stories Everyday Icons

Hello Again Inspiration

The Reimagine Project

Luxury Uncovered Content

•  All things luxurious, including film, ideas and music. •  Features artists, musicians, directors, filmmakers, actors and entrepreneurs. •  Tells stories of interesting people who embody Lincoln values.

“Rhythm is a Danger” interviews Damien Chazelle, screenwriter of the Academy Award Nominated film, Whiplash.

Violinists get back problems and singers get nodes – it’s something I hadn’t seen before in a music movie. You see it sports movies all the time.

We don’t really think of music as physical, but it is.

“

“

Lincoln Automobiles Content

•  Lincoln history, iconic models, new models, behind the scenes and inspiration.

•  Celebrates Lincoln heritage and historical company moments.

•  Spotlights interesting venues, events and announcements.

“Artisans of Lincoln: Inspirations of the MKC” interviews Lincoln’s color and material designers, Janet Seymour and Jenny Kubinec.

We pulled off the end of an orange, where the flower end is, and we were looking at the shape inside the orange just by chance. We ended up doing a

wheel based on that. It turned out pretty cool. Everything inspires us.

“

“

Lincoln Culture Content

•  Features everyday icons, speaking to their passions and motivations.

•  Detroit stories spotlight inspirational people who have contributed to bringing culture into the city.

•  Shares small businesses and initiatives that are working to enrich the Detroit communities.

Interview with Naomi Long Madgett, City of Detroit’s Poet Laureate.

I got engaged by mail because my first husband was still in the army.

“ “ My first poem was published by a daily

newspaper in Virginia when I was 13.

“ “

Imagery is high-quality, powerful, emotional and people-focused.

Content is a mixture of video, articles, photos and interviews.

Lincoln’s social media consistently incorporated throughout.

Instagram and Twitter

account feeds are displayed at bottom

of every page.

Every photo, video and highlighted quotes are easy to share with pre-populated text.

Hashtags are incorporated throughout posts to categorize campaigns, such as #FilmUncovered.

Social accounts have consistent look and feel as Lincoln Now hub.

Social accounts link back to Lincoln Now sites, rather than main Lincoln website.

now.lincoln.com/YouTube

www.now.lincoln.com

YouTube channel hosts all Lincoln Now video content and also various commercials and video campaigns.

Again, consistent look and feel as Lincoln Now and other social channels.

The Vanishing Game Land Rover

In 2014, Land Rover embarked on a unique branded content project – an interactive

digital book, The Vanishing Game, written by British author, William Boyd.

The project aimed to build the brand’s reputation as a vehicle for adventure,

discovery and exploration.

The adventure thriller, which can be found at www.thevanishinggame.wellstoried.com, follows protagonist Alex Dunbar on a mysterious driving adventure across the UK.

“

What I tried to achieve was to make the Land Rover an inherent presence in the story, something always

there – implicit, strong, solid, reliable, ready to function – very like the part it plays in my memory.

- WILLIAM BOYD - Author

The Vanishing Game

”

The story is brought to life online through a multi-sensory experience, comprised of video, photography, animation, sound, music and narration.

Land Rover also promoted The Vanishing Game through an intricate multi-media marketing campaign

to further enhance reader engagement and activity.

Custom content by NewsCred was shared on media outlets, including Vox Media, Quartz, NYTimes.com and Travel + Leisure.

Readers and actual Land Rover owners were encouraged to share personal driving adventures with #WellStoried.

The images were collected and showcased on a dedicated Tumblr site, www.wellstoried.com, searchable by keywords or location.

Dare Greatly Cadillac

Despite a strong year for the luxury automobile market, Cadillac sales dipped 6% in 2014.

Source: Forbes, “Cadillac Risks Break From Detroit with New ‘Dare Greatly’ Campaign”

Realizing the brand needed to redefine itself, Cadillac launched “Dare Greatly.”

“

The Cadillac brand needed to change. We needed to have a new point of view

to show why we’re relevant.

- UWE ELLINGHAUS - CMO

Cadillac

”

The effort seeks to differentiate the brand through what Cadillac stands for, rather than one-upsmanship such as ‘more horsepower,’

or ‘more torque’.

Source: Forbes, “Cadillac Risks Break From Detroit with New ‘Dare Greatly’ Campaign”

“

Cadillac wants to create interplay among the brand values of boldness, sophistication and optimism, and yet be inviting and approachable. We want to inspire. We want people to dream Cadillac again.

- UWE ELLINGHAUS - CMO

Cadillac

”

Introducing: Dare Greatly Site lives at www.dare-greatly.com The hub celebrates the daring, whose passion and vision have reshaped their industries, our lives and our future. Content includes video interviews with accomplished risk-takers on the dares they’ve taken and unique perspectives in life.

Jason Wu, Iconic Designer Jason Wu came to the US as a boy of 9 with a love for dressing dolls.

He dared to follow his passion and went from fashion intern to an arbiter of style

tasked with revolutionizing one of the world’s most iconic fashion brands.

Jason Wu on how his mother’s daring inspired him.

I really admire my mother for daring, despite what people said, she bought me a sewing machine and she let me play with dolls. That was something that growing up, culturally was quite

unacceptable. She dared to let me be different, and in fact, embraced what I wanted to do. I definitely wouldn’t be

here without her.

“

“

Anne Wojcicki, Health Care Advocate Anne Wojcicki was a successful stock analyst on Wall Street. She dared to risk it all

and devote herself to DNA research in hopes it could unlock the secrets to curing the

world’s diseases.

Anne Wojcicki on why she took such a risk, leaving Wall Street and starting her genomics company 23andMe.

When I was working on Wall Street, I felt slightly trapped in that I was

investing in a healthcare industry I didn’t really believe in. For years I really struggled with this idea that

people were making money off my illness and I wanted to do something

different.

“

“

Steve Wozniak, Visionary Inventor Steve Wozniak was a college dropout with a talent for computer circuitry. He dared to

quit the only job he’d ever known and market his invention, the personal computer,

and founding what has become one of the world’s most valued companies.

Steve Wozniak on how he feels about today’s technology.

Technology these days intimidates me all the time, but it also makes

me feel like, ‘Gosh there are a lot of people that are going to fast having

more fun than I am with the technology!’ Technology is the fun

of today.

“

“

Videos are of high-production value and show the interviewees in casual, authentic environments.

Content is easy to share on viewers’ social channels.

“

This is a reinvention, not just a repositioning. This is not a campaign.

We want people to say, ‘Look how much Cadillac has changed.’

- UWE ELLINGHAUS - CMO

Cadillac

”

Cadillac social accounts have consistent look and feel.

Much of social content is inspired by and tagged #DAREGREATLY.

“

Luxury brands don’t sell products, they sell dreams. People need to find

Cadillac inspiring and having a spirit and attitude, a clear point of view.

- UWE ELLINGHAUS - CMO

Cadillac

”

Want to learn more?

Our team of strategists can help your brand build a marketing growth engine. From ongoing support and

program management, to customized strategy sessions and workshops, we’ll set your brand up for success.

NewsCred is the most

comprehensive content marketing

solution.

Get in touch! STRATEGY@NEWSCRED.COM