Brief:
- Auto brand Dodge announced a multichannel campaign for the holiday season that includes a video series on digital and social channels including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, according to a company press release. The series parodies car-restoration TV shows by highlighting how Santa's elves overhaul his sleigh with muscle car-inspired features after he demands an upgrade.
- The series stars professional wrestler Bill Goldberg as Santa Claus and "All Girls Garage" host Cristy Lee as Mrs. Claus. Dodge's website will feature holiday merchandise inspired by the series, including reindeer t-shirts and the same version of the sweater Goldberg wears in the video spots.
- The creative is part of a broader holiday push by parent company FCA, which includes campaigns for the Chrysler Pacifica family minivan, Jeep's lineup of vehicles and several Ram trucks. Ad agency Doner helped Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram develop the campaigns.
Insight:
Dodge's social media series likely aims to reach young adults in the market for a car who also watch less TV than older generations and tend to consume more media on smartphones and tablets. Millennials spend five-times longer on a mobile device than they do watching live TV, and more than a third of the group spends at least six hours a day on a smartphone, according to a Harris Poll survey on behalf of OpenX.
The shift in content consumption is driving a change in people's shopping habits, making omnichannel marketing efforts more important for brands as they look to grab the attention of consumers fatigued by traditional ads. By debuting the creative on popular social media platforms, Dodge is likely banking on the native sharing features to extend the reach of its campaign and tap into the social networks of the ads' athlete and TV host stars.
The car industry faces lower demand heading into this holiday season for the first time in a decade, even as the U.S. economy shows solid growth and consumers plans to spend more for the holidays. FCA reported solid results for Q3 2018, a quarter that included the unexpected death of CEO Sergio Marchionne. The company outsold Ford in the U.S. in September for the first time since 2015 and posted higher profits than Ford in the third quarter.
