Changing the Conversation with Cadillac
How do you breathe new life into an iconic company?
Background
The average age of a Cadillac owner is 67, and for almost two decades, the brand has tried to appeal to a younger crowd with every new campaign they released. The message was starting to get redundant—it was time to shift the conversation.
Journey
Our reimagining of the brand started with a core insight: Cadillacs have always been considered a symbol of success. Cadillac’s DNA has always embodied this “move-up” mentality—in fact, we discovered the symbol of rising to the top has even been hidden in the brand’s most iconic feature, the Cadillac Crest, for over 100 years.
The perfect moment to celebrate Cadillac’s legacy and reimagine their future was during one of the highest advertising touchpoints of 2019, the Oscars. A :60 second television spot, ‘Rise Above,’ epitomized Cadillac’s legendary style and craftsmanship. Three :30 second spots focused on features of each model: the XT4, XT5, and Escalade, all underscored by Childish Gambino’s iconic "Me and Your Mama." Partnerships with key influencers and a first-ever Red Carpet integration for Cadillac helped keep the online conversation going before and during the show.
We also created inventive campaigns to launch every car in the Cadillac family. To launch the XT6 SUV, we partnered with the Russo Brothers and created a series of dynamic films. We helped launch the XT4 with a 360 Virtual Reality Experience featured in more than 30 percent of dealerships across the country—despite the XT4 only being available virtually, 3 were sold on-site on the first day. And for the CT5, we partnered with artist Darel Carey to create an artistic version of a camouflage car wrap, then posted teaser videos of the car slowly being unwrapped on Cadillac’s social channels. The video spread like wildfire, and two of the videos became the two most-successful social video posts in Cadillac’s history.
Outcomes
Our breadth of work has transformed Cadillac sentiment and helped sales explode by nearly 20% compared to the previous year. 53% of online conversation about Cadillac is positive, compared to 30% the year before.
People are talking—with a 24% increase in online conversation about Cadillac—and our work has helped provoke curiosity among a new, younger, largely female audience.
- 65%increase in site traffic
- 20%increase in positive sentiment about Cadillac
- 19%increase in sales across all nameplates
What are people saying?