LAND ROVER
MISSION: Position Land Rover vehicles as the most luxurious and uniquely capable 4X4s in the world — The most well-traveled vehicles on earth.
INSIGHT: With the Range Rover and the Discovery in the later stages of their respective product cycles, Land Rover felt they didn't have significant features to tout. A situation compounded by the fact that the automotive mags were talking up a BMW V8 transplant for the Range Rover that was still 18 out. As such, projected sales were lowered from the prior year.
IDEA: We went to Land Rover with a strong recommendation. Ignore the automotive magazines that typically thrive on new features and body style changes. We recommended that LR instead target high-net-worth individuals and avid travelers, stressing the brand's global status and legendary 4X4 credibility. We ran ads in travel magazines and business publications targetting captains of industry and world travelers rather than car buffs.
RESULTS: Both the Range Rover and the Discovery models surpassed sales projections for the 2001 model year and production of Range Rovers was increased to meet the unexpected demand. In lieu of anything new to introduce, we successfully sold the brand's global cache. Based on the robust sales of both models, we hypothesized that the global nature of the Discovery TV linked above also increased Range Rover's sales.
The work for both Range Rover and Discovery also won numerous awards and helped raise GSD&M's national profile.
I've put the individual model campaigns on separate pages for the sake of clarity and readability. Only TV and print that I personally wrote appear on this site. Click on the boxes below to see the print ads.
WHAT DID I DO?
- Served as a GCD on the Land Rover pitch alongside GCD/AD David Crawford. We bested both Crispin and Kirschenbaum to win the business.
- Presented and sold the national Range Rover and Discovery campaigns to our clients, Kim McCullough and Andrew Polsinelli.
- Won One Show gold for the WSJ Range Rover newspaper campaign, a body of work created by three working teams.
- Wrote the Discovery magazine campaign that was a finalist in the Stephen E. Kelly Magazine Publishers Awards.
- Wrote the Winston Churchill Range Rover ad that was featured in Communication Arts Advertising Annual.
- Conceived and sold the groundbreaking Discovery TV commercial that was subsequently inducted into the Museum of Modern Art's Permanent Collection.
NOTE: Other creatives on Land Rover included writers Michael Buss, Mark Ray, and Bill Bayne, as well as art directors Rob Story, Steve Newton, Lynn Sarnow Born, and Lou Flores. GCD David Crawford oversaw all art direction. GCD Jeremy Postaer was also involved in campaign development and spearheaded the Freelander launch. In retrospect, it was a dream team.
Onward to the print...