FOUND BY MERCEDES-BENZ & MAISON KITSUNÉ

TitleFOUND BY MERCEDES-BENZ & MAISON KITSUNÉ
BrandMERCEDES-BENZ
Product/ServiceA COLLECTION OF SCARVES AND HATS FOR THE LAUNCH OF ITS NEW RANGE OF CONVERTIBLES
Category A03. Cars & Automotive Products & Services
Entrant BBDO PARIS, FRANCE
Idea Creation BBDO PARIS, FRANCE
Credits
Name Company Position
Matthieu Elkaim  BBDO Paris Executive Creative Director
Théophile Robaglia  CLM BBDO Artistic Director
Joseph Rozier  CLM BBDO Copywriter
Olivier Rippe  BBDO Paris CEO
Loic Mercier BBDO Paris Head of strategic planning
Séverine Autret  CLM BBDO Managing Director
Charlotte Montrichard  CLM BBDO Account Manager
Marie Bottin CLM BBDO Art Buying director
Lauren Weber  BBDO Paris Head of group Communication
Guillaume Rancurel  Proximity BBDO Creative Development Manager
Vincent Gapaillard  xxx Photographer
Isabelle Descamps IDM Agent
xxx Odalisques prod  Image editing
Stéphane Boutier  Mercedes Benz Marketing director
Béatrice Tanguy  Mercedes Benz Marketing Communication Manager
Clémence Madet  Mercedes Benz Press and RP manager
Gildas Loaëc Kitsuné Founder
Masaya Kuroki  Kitsuné Founder
Rémi Le Hong  Kitsuné Marketing and Communication Director
Louise Van Den Bogaert  Kitsuné Collection Director
Laure Betsch  Kitsuné Junior product manager
Gabriel Delattre  60 circuits Founding partner
Manon Welfringer  60 circuits Digital Producer

The Campaign

Driving a convertible is first and foremost a unique lifestyle. With sometimes few unexpected hitches, as a hat or a scarf swept away by the wind. For the launch of its new range of convertible and roadsters, Mercedes-Benz have partnered with the new wave of French fashion Maison Kitsuné, to create FOUND : a hat and scarf collection, that are impossible to lose thanks to a geo-tracking chip and app.

Execution

Partnering with Maison Kitsune, a trendsetting brand, was a first step to ensure good PR coverage on that project, and legitimate Mercedes’s partnership with the Fashion week worldwide. We sent the products to influencers, and also lifestyle, fashion and tech journalists, so they would test and use the products. Leaflets, press release and tutorials also have been developed for an immediate understanding of the project.

Above all, FOUND is a tribute to the convertible culture that drove the conversation about Mercedes-Benz new range much Further than the automotive press. The result of our press coverage was satisfactory: LUXSURE, WAD, MON FRENCH FLAIR, LE POINT, ELLE, LUXER’S, OPTIMUM, LUI, STYLIST, LE FIGARO, TRENDS, MODERNISTS, CLAUSETTE, FASHION NETWORK, … And Mercedes-Benz has begun a real conversation with a younger target. Available in limited edition exclusively in Maison Kitsuné flagship store and at the Mercedes-Benz Gallery in Paris, every item was sold out within 3 days. And none of them was lost.

The Situation

Rather than just communicating on a launch campaign, leveraging fashion items was much more effective in getting journalists and influencers’ interest and word of mouth. Press coverage was amazing on the project and enabled Mercedes to be associated to trendy topics (fashion, tech…) and appear in magazines that would never speak about cars. FOUND is Mercedes-Benz best alibi to convey modernity and edginess.

The Strategy

Most Mercedes-Benz buyers are over 50 years old. Moreover, even if the brand did an extraordinary work on a global rejuvenation of its cars designs, it is still perceived as “my father’s brand, not mine”. The stake was to reach the consideration of a younger 40 yo target.