Media: Strategy Analysis - Land Rover 'goes beyond' convention

Budget: Undisclosed



AGENCIES

Media: MindShare

Creative: Wunderman and Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R

Technology: Narrowstep

STRATEGY

Land Rover wanted to drive awareness of its "Go Beyond" positioning. The
challenge was to overcome an increasing aversion to orthodox advertising
and commercial clutter in the over-targeted car market, and do so in a
way that would generate leads and encourage potential Land Rover
consumers to interact with the brand.

The idea was to "go beyond" traditional print and broadcast advertising.
The internet was already at the heart of Land Rover's communications
strategy (accounting for 60 per cent of leads). To capitalise on this,
Go Beyond TV was created - a media-first in the auto industry.

The broadband-based TV station acts both as an internal communications
tool for the Land Rover network and as an external communications
channel; driving awareness as well as generating loyalty among Land
Rover consumers and admirers. The content is not solely car-centric but
also exemplifies "going beyond" your personal boundaries and
experiencing adventure in all forms.

Go Beyond TV can be found at www.landrover.com/gobeyond and can also be
accessed via www.gobeyond.tv.

EXECUTION

TV MindShare Performance, which conceptualised the idea of Go Beyond TV,
negotiated a contract with Narrowstep to develop the channel in line
with the Go Beyond website. Six channels were created: Sports,
Adventure, Culture, People, Places and Land Rover. All content is
video-on-demand, putting the viewer in complete control and, for the
more passive viewer, there is a rolling schedule of programmes.

Original content was produced from partners such as the G4 Challenge,
Land Rover sponsorships (Born Free and Biosphere Expeditions) and
Onelife magazine. Additional content was negotiated from external
suppliers.

Via Land Rover VIP, celebrities, such as Maria Sharapova, Lawrence
Dallaglio, Tim Henman and Michael Owen, were interviewed for their
thoughts on what "Go Beyond" meant to them. The more tech-savvy or
vehicle-oriented can access detailed information on Land Rover design
and capabilities as well as advertising, and behind-the-scenes
scoops.

The channel was launched via a live broadcast at the New York Motor Show
and a second live broadcast from the London Motor Show coincided with
the worldwide launch of the new Freelander 2. Downloadable and
free-to-view trailers are also available on YouTube, Google Video and
iTunes.- Cinema and Go Beyond film partnerships The first stage of
above-the-line support is a cinema campaign playing a cut-down version
of the Go Beyond film. It runs in UK cinemas until the end of September.
Building intrigue, the captive audience is urged to discover the world
of "Go Beyond" on the web.

In addition to the screen airtime, MindShare UK has also negotiated film
partnerships with Vue Cinemas and The Times, The Sunday Times and Times
Online film brand "Screen". A film screening programme will see selected
films, in line with the Go Beyond theme, screened nationwide between now
and May 2007. The Times titles will support this with a series of
editorial and promotional activities.

These partnerships give Land Rover a high-profile presence at key
international film festivals such as Venice and The Times bfi London
Film Festival. The Times' Screen Unseen programme will also allow
readers to preview films every month.

RESULTS

The campaign is on-going, but to date, viewers have spent on average 50
minutes watching and engaging with Go Beyond TV, which is nearly double
the industry "dwell time" average. The website is also generating
significant traffic, and contributions and PR worth more than £100,000 have been generated on the back of the launch.

THE VERDICT - Mark Holden executive planning director, PHD

This case study is a good example of communications planning. You take
the brand proposition or the creative endline and you use this to create
a property that can provide an audience with an engaging brand
experience.

For those of you who won't read the words to the left, here's a summary.
They created a broadband TV channel called Go Beyond TV. It features a
broad range of documentary-based content with some celebrity interviews.
The channel was launched at the New York Motor Show and the London Motor
Show. The content was then used to create a cinema ad and create mini
movies to play-out in selected cinemas. Finally, they brought in The
Times, The Sunday Times and Times Online to support the activity.

This is a good case study because the media agency's thinking had a deep
structural effect on the whole communications, creating a totally new
property and then linking this into their mainstream marketing. However,
there is no mention of how many people have or will tune in.

Identifying which sorts of formats will work best on internet protocol
TV is going to be important. Early signs suggest people will use IPTV
for information about specific areas of interest. This is good news for
Go Beyond TV as the content is based around specific areas of interest.
However, for a combination of reasons, the programmes are not being
picked up by the major search engines. So the 20,000 people in August
who searched for information about Costa Rica had no idea that there is
a documentary about it ready to view, for free. Paid-for search
marketing could be used here.

Stepping back from all of this, it is important to remember that this
site is simply a means to an end. It's easy to get hypnotised by an idea
and forget about why it was created: ROI. It might be too early to have
any results, but it would be nice to know what the measures for success
are. Otherwise, when the new marketing director takes over, these
elements of the marketing plan may be the first to be culled, as often
happens.

Assuming there is a commitment to build the channel by increasing
visitors, and that there is an identifiable payback to the business,
this is a nice piece of work that the media industry should be aware
of.

Score: 4 out of 5.