CarGurus’ popular ‘Detective’ campaign continues with new creative in 2019
You know your brand campaign is a hit when awareness doubles and site sessions grow nearly 50% year over year. That’s the case for CarGurus, whose ‘Detective’ spot was so popular — and successful — that the online automotive marketplace launched two follow-on ads for 2019.
CarGurus ‘Detective’ campaign continues in 2019
Originally launched in 2017, ‘Detective’ was a key element of a US brand marketing campaign that led CarGurus’ aided and unaided brand awareness to double, which means that the majority of US car shoppers who are in-market are aware of CarGurus when prompted. Plus, the overall campaign has helped the company become the largest US car shopping site in terms of unique monthly visitors as measured by Comscore Media Metrix. Additionally, CarGurus’ average monthly US site sessions (i.e., distinct visits that may include multiple page views and actions) increased 49% in Q3 2018 as compared to Q3 2017.
For its third US mass-media campaign, CarGurus introduced ‘Detective: The Story Continues,’ which launched on 27 December with two ads: Parents and Obvious. The spots feature the couple from the original ‘Detective’ ad.
In ‘Parents,’ the two are having breakfast with the man’s parents, who first suggest that their car choice is large enough for a family and then offer to come along to the dealer. The two assure the parents that “We’ve got this” because they’ve used CarGurus to find the best deal on the right car from a reputable dealer.
In ‘Obvious,’ the couple sits at a coffee shop’s outdoor table next to a woman talking to herself about cars driving by. The woman from the ‘Detective’ ad overhears the observations, asks the other woman if she’s thinking of buying a new car, and then recommends CarGurus.
Each ad is sprinkled with the kind of humor and wit used in the original ‘Detective’ ad; for example, in ‘Obvious,’ the woman snatches the phone from the man’s hands (while he’s using it) to show the other woman the CarGurus site.
"Despite testing several other approaches to telling the CarGurus story, the ongoing strong performance of "The Detective" spoke for itself and we couldn't resist the opportunity to check back in on our couple," Sarah Welch, SVP of Consumer Marketing at CarGurus, said in a statement. "We're excited to share more of their story as they complete their car shopping journey and to see them both turn into evangelists for CarGurus."
The same team that created ‘Detective’ worked on the new campaign. The team includes ad agency Plum 14, Ocean Media for media planning, and director Nick Spooner and Chirp Productions to hand development and production.