Mouths of Mums
The snapshot
In an increasingly competitive SUV segment, Toyota Kluger relies on new and innovative ways to engage with its key audience, the modern Australian family - namely mums. Knowing that mums love to share information with other mums, we found a way to engage in these conversations and generate a credible word-of-mouth promotion.
The challenge
Kluger, Toyota's family SUV, faced increased competition with increased competitor activity, including new vehicle launches. So we needed to develop wider awareness of Kluger, over and above traditional advertising.
The approach
Research showed that mothers not only talk about brands substantially more than non-mums and males, but mothers' opinions are perceived as more credible. That, paired with the fact that mums generally have the final say in key family decisions, led us to the decision to introduce Kluger to an online community of mums - to develop user-generated content and create new prospects.
We partnered with Mouths of Mums, an online community of mums who share, read and review products. Our strategy was to give five mothers a Kluger for two weeks and document their experiences. The aim was to generate valuable, credible content that could be used in the future.
The solution
We launched the campaign in two phases. The first phase was all about recruiting mums to review the Kluger. Banners on the MoM site and posts on MoM Facebook page directed mums to a landing page, to register for a chance to review the Kluger.
Facebook was also used to promote the reviewer recruitment stage, with mums tagging themselves in the Kluger and commenting on the images. Five mums were then chosen and each given a Kluger to use in their everyday life for 10 days. During this time, we met with each mum to capture her impression of the Kluger.
In phase two, we developed a landing page based on the idea of 'Designed with mums in mind.' It hosted our five reviewer videos along with a promotion for mums to win a 3-month pamper package - the perfect prize for busy mums.
Over four weeks, a combination of touchpoints across MoM, Facebook and Toyota communications drove mums to the landing page to enter the competition, watch the review videos and opt in to receive communications from Toyota.
The results
With mums registering their interest in Kluger, we exceeded hard Toyota opt-in targets by 14%. Just as importantly, the campaign generated a huge buzz, with hundreds of mums tagging themselves, adding comments and spreading the word. All resulting in five video testimonials - credible, relevant word-of-mouth content from the most trusted source of recommendations - mums.
