Ferrari Case Study: Heritage Campaign
Scope of Work
Based on extensive primary audience research and current trends (2020), the following campaign looked to capture 50+ year olds who grew up with Ferrari being their 'Hero Car Brand' through a nostalgic theme that aimed to activate childhood dreams converting them into a reality. Work was completed during MS degree for course: Content Strategy at Georgetown University.
Target Audience Profile
To start this campaign, interviews were conducted with a dozen Ferrari owners who fit a set of parameters that aligned with the brand’s core audience segments.
From these interviews, a general profile was created to encompass the common themes.
Brand Persona
After narrowing down the target audience for this campaign, a mesh between the audience and brand was crafted into a persona of the ideal driver. James Garcia represents this group that are successful family men who grew up with Ferrari and now have the means to drive a Ferrari.
Target Audience: Schedule
To find touch points of brand interaction, for every interview that was conducted with current and prospective Ferrari drivers, an average daily schedule was crafted to narrow down where this campaign could make the most impact and reach the target audience.
Social Media Content: Instagram
Surprisingly when asked “what social platform do you engage with most”, my first guess was not Instagram for this demographic. With a resounding consensus that IG was the top platform for auto content with YouTube in close second, the first deliverable of the campaign was a string of heritage posts that reinforced the classic feel of Ferrari to this audience.
Each post linked to visually appealing blog posts that gave some background into each vintage feature car with past interviews from some Ferrari legends such as Michael Schumacher, Niki Lauda, and Fernando Alonso.
Traditional Marketing: Direct Mail
The next deliverable consisted of 3 postcards (1 shown below) that included messaging centered around family as 75% of those interviewed were considering purchasing an additional Ferrari with their children/ grandchildren in mind. A point of concern about the options was comfort and quality as many currently had SUVs for their family members. Finally, the choice to use direct mail as the medium was because it was generally received as effective among this group in particular.
Testing of Direct Mail Pieces
An emphasis on A/B testing of this deliverable was made as it was found among the test group that customers within the target audience preferred the relaxed feel to the front side and the simple input layout of the back to claim the special offer from their local dealership. A resounding 100% of the test group interacted with the content and provided their email for the follow up email regarding special financing on the GTC4 Lusso. The combination of car choice and messaging resulted in the above average results.
E-mail Campaign: Ferrari Insider Club
The final deliverable in this campaign was a series of emails both for Ferrari owners and prospective customers who had expressed interest in purchasing. The newsletter (right) was sent to current Ferrari owners as part of the Insider Club and advertised the new Ferrari Roma. The CTA indicated that the reader would be contacted for a test drive without them having to do anything which proved highly successful with a 97% acceptance rate.
The newsletter series was personalized with dynamic values such as number of years the customer had owned a Ferrari, their name in the subject line, and auto populated member ID located top right which was hyperlinked to their customer relations account with the brand.
Several different layouts were tested across Q2 2020 with the three column proving most effective with the higher test drive acceptance rate. Image choice was also tested but differences were not statistically significant to implement any change.
