To reach a new audience on the social web, we created the first "build your own car" tool on Instagram.
Visit gla_build_your_own within the Instagram mobile app.
In the automotive industry, the most important online sales tool is the "build-your-own car" functionality, which typically lives on a brand's website. But the target for the all-new GLA lived on the social web – so we decided to bring the utility to them.
Taking advantage of the recently added "tagging" functionality on Instagram, we allowed consumers to pick the colors, wheels, roof and grill of their new GLA, and then gave them a quote to take to a nearby dealer. How? By hacking the platform and creating hundreds of linked accounts, along with thousands of images representing all the customizable option.
Fast Company observed: "Mercedes-Benz isn't waiting for people to come to its site" – and the approach paid off. There were thousands of GLA builds, and 20,000 new followers to the @MBUSA account, all with no media dollars spent. Bloomberg News even debated on-air if this signaled a new future for the automotive sales process.
