Title	FOUND BY MERCEDES-BENZ & MAISON KITSUNÉ
Brand	MERCEDES-BENZ
Product/Service	A COLLECTION OF SCARVES AND HATS FOR THE LAUNCH OF ITS NEW RANGE OF CONVERTIBLES
Category	B10. Sponsorship & Partnership
Entrant	BBDO PARIS, FRANCE
Idea Creation	BBDO PARIS, FRANCE

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.