Title	#GLATUR
Brand	MERCEDES-BENZ NORWAY / BERTEL O. STEEN
Product/Service	GLA
Category	A02. NON-FICTION: SERIES OR FILM
Entrant Company	STARCOM Oslo, NORWAY
Media Agency	STARCOM Oslo, NORWAY
Production Company	FIELD PRODUCTIONS AS Oslo, NORWAY

Name	Company	Position
Jon Axel Nævestad	Starcom Mediavest Group	Business Director
Endre Løvaas	Starcom Mediavest Group	Experience Manager
Peder Mittet	Starcom Mediavest Group	Managing Director
Christine Torp Johnsen	Starcom Mediavest Group	Business Manager Performance
Aria Nejad	Starcom Mediavest Group	Adops Planner
Andreas Tegle	Starcom Mediavest Group	Media Planner
Andrè Strand	Starcom Mediavest Group	Performance Planner
Reidar Holtedahl	Bertel O. Steen AS	Marketing Director
Stine Kristiansen Hellem	Bertel O. Steen AS	Marketing Manager
Christoffer Nøkleby	Bertel O. Steen AS	Communication Director
Bjørn Granlund	Starcom Mediavest Group	Media Planner
Marius Huseby	DB TV	Production Manager
Diana Badi	DB TV	Project Director
Aleksander Hamm	DB TV	Strategic Client Director
Jan Thomas Holmlund	DB TV	Project Manager
Filip Christensen	Field Productions	Director
Even Sigstad	Field Productions	Executive Producer
Jan Petter Aarskog	Field Productions	Editor
Lasse Nyhaugen	Field Productions	Editor
Ole Emil Johnsen	Gambit HK	Account Director

The Campaign

The Norwegian media market is extremely strict regulated compared to almost any other market. Advertiser funded Programming (AFP) or Product placement has not been legal until recently, and it was only in 2013 that the regulations were somewhat loosened to adopt to more international standards. The authorities is following the development closely and through strict regulations, with the most recent legislation released in March 2014. Media owners themselves have strong focus on editorial integrity, and are moving slowly and with great caution into this new and unknown territory. This content and campaign was developed through a unique and intimate collaboration where we truly broke new ground, between Norway´s second largest newspaper publisher, the client, the production company and the agency.

Results

Compared with other premium car makers, Mercedes-Benz had an image problem in Norway. Absolutely nothing wrong with the cars – just the perception of the type of people who drive them... We needed to revitalize and rejuvenate the brand. An active lifestyle is essential to Norwegians, 75% of the population are into outdoor sports and activities. It’s in their veins and how they like to identify themselves – as active people seeking new adventures. The new model GLA had the right design, price and appeal to boost Mercedes-Benz’ positioning as a more sporty, active and modern brand amongst Norwegians. We saw the opportunity to create buzz and drive the brand, but only had a total budget of USD100.000 to make it happen... We therefore created our own version of the brand’s Ultimate Roadtrip, customizing it to Norwegians. Partnering with the second biggest newspaper website, Dagbladet, we created #GLATUR –The Ultimate Roadtrip in a GLA (which also happens to mean joyride in Norwegian) – a competition where the winner became the star of a 3-part web series; 3 different adventures in the most stunning parts of Norway, hosted by a local action sports star. The competition was brought to life through editorial content, seeding, social media and selected advertising. Contestants submitted 30sec videos to show why they should be chosen. From 580 submissions, busy 37-year-old father of 3, Joachim, was chosen as the winner – adventurous in soul and spirit, but with no time to pursue his dreams of adventure. He brought his best friend, Rune, along for the ride. The Word quickly spread throughout action-sports, lifestyle and brand communities, getting the right kind of people interested in the car, in the right environments, using editorial content to communicate the brand’s story with a credible, authentic voice.

We entered a unique partnership with Norway’s second biggest online and print news publisher, Dagbladet. Together we encouraged our audience to enter an attractive competition to win The Ultimate Roadtrip in a Mercedes-Benz GLA, and become the star of an adventurous web TV-series. Dagbladet brought this to life editorially and followed the evolving story all through the release of the spectacular webisodes, both through their news site, their online TV-channel, print and Facebook. We supported with selected advertising, seeding in relevant communities and through Mercedes´owned platforms. The spectacular content also spread organically through social media and was picked up by the press.

All at a total budget for production and media of only USD 100.000, we reached more than 2,1 million people. That translates into 51,6% of the total Norwegian population! More importantly we reached 62 % of our target group. Nearly 600 qualified video contributions where sent in and in social media we saw close to 9 000 different actions done (likes, shares, clicks, comments, picture upload), and a reach of over 500 000 people. The 3 webisodes alone have generated over 320.000 plays in 4 weeks. Bear in mind that the episodes are 8 minutes long – that’s a significant amount of time to spend with branded content. It translates into 2 560 000 minuets! Did it do anything for the brand? On important KPI’s we saw an extremely positive shift. Brand tracker showed +57% on “Sporty”, + 23% on “Modern” and +18% on “Attractive Design”. It resulted in 816 test drives during the six week campaign period, compared to just under 2.000 test drives for the entire 2013! Ultimately Mercedes has sold 714 of their GLAs’ during the campaign, it’s sold out! In addition, Q1 2014 was all-time high for Mercedes-Benz sales in Norway. Ever.