The Smart Car unexpected test drive campaign is based in Moscow, 'the city of giant SUV's, outrageous traffic jams and desperate for parking solutions'. They feared an issue that there core buyers which are the strongly emerging middle class, still preferred big expensive cars to show off their success. When the Russians need another car, they opt for another big car, rather than a Smart since it's 'not a real car'. Mercedes were aware that this group of people had no interest in their Smart Cars so the aim of their campaign was very daring however they wanted to turn reluctant consumers into 'true believers'. They feel the solution is that once people have taken it for a ride, they will fall in love with it. They thought their biggest opportunity was to focus on their audiences weakest point which is their big cars and the problems they bring along, when drivers go shopping at the weekend, they will park it where ever it will fit. However illegally parked cars are promptly removed without notice so when the drivers notice they are issued a big fine and the place they are towed to is an hour from Moscow's Centre. This is where the Smart team jumped in, offering a free unique opportunity to test drive a Smart Car in the worlds worst traffic jams giving them a 100% realistic experience in the car that could save them from all the hassle their big cars cause them. The results were 40 smarts saved 623 car-less drivers during 3 days in 8 shopping malls. Earning $150,000 in earned media. 400 saved drivers become real believers. Mercedes say that the conversion rate was 70% and they received countless positive emotions from the car-less drivers. The test drives increased 10 fold and sales increased by 300% in the two weeks after the event.
This print advertisement is very simple however it fits well with its video component. This firstly due to the colour scheme, as the animation on the video has a yellow background with a red Smart Car and the opposing cars are black. The Smart Car could potentially be red rather than black because red is a powerful colour with lots of energy, this is how they're trying to represent the car and also make it stand out than the rest as it is also a very bright colour. Then the other cars are much bigger than the Smart Car and they're black, this could be a representation of them being bolder and bigger than the red however not as exciting. A lot of the text in the video campaign is in white and the odd bit in red, although on this print ad is in black, this is probably down to the fact that the colour scheme is mainly black, yellow, red, white which make it very recognisable to it's video ad, they most likely chose black for the print advertisement because it stands out, so it's bolder and easier to be read. The titling on the print ad hasn't got the same font as the one in the video, and it isn't the same as it's default font for the Smart logo, this means it's less definable to it's regular font however it's much bolder and stands out so the audience are aware of what it's about. This advert is very central to the middle of the page, this is potentially to make it look tidier and simple, getting to the point.
This adverts target audience is drivers who don't just own one big car, but own two, it's trying to make a point that instead of having two big cars, why not one Smart Car? which links to its video ad as they're offering people of Moscow an unexpected test drive to make them true believers, and get a Smart car rather than a big 4x4 because they're much easier in big cities with traffic jams and parking etc. To make this campaign work, they're best putting it in large cities with traffic issues and in car parks, this would make it most relevant as the point of the ad is to get people to buy smarts for reasons such as traffic jams and parking due to it's eco option and there size. It will need to be put quite frequently for its audience to get the point of it and realise they're much better.
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