Launching the all-new Jaguar F-TYPE

by Josh Solana in News on 4 October 2012 at 16:06 Google+

Lana Del Rey and the F-TYPE

Take one of the biggest names in music today, the city of lights, as well as one of the most hotly anticipated sports cars of the year – and you’ve got the perfect foundations to mark the launch of Jaguar’s stunning new F-TYPE. So as Jaguar’s global social agency, this meant the pressure was on us last week to ensure maximum conversation around its glamorous reveal in Paris.

Working closely with Jaguar’s global comms team and partner agencies Spark44 and The Brooklyn Brothers, we devised a social plan that would bring the exclusive VIP reveal event in Paris to life across the globe, and more importantly – treat our communities to Jaguar’s first-ever social unveil.

Wi-Fi Card at F-TYPE Launch Event

This involved a comprehensive global community management programme that aligned all the brand’s social channels, both global and local, and planning the week’s activity down to the smallest detail. This ensured that no stone was left unturned – from posting photos of guests arriving, to announcing the moment when the gorgeous Lana Del Rey would take to the stage!

F-TYPE Reveal Event at Musee Rodin, Paris

Myself and Ross were in Paris for the event, live-posting updates across a grand total of 11 channels simultaneously from the striking Musée Rodin (as well as rubbing shoulders with the likes of David Gandy and Alice Temperley!). Our plan also meant that local pages across the globe were geared up to share the festivities with their audiences, and eventually all eyes were on Paris.

Once the embargo on the F-TYPE lifted, we released the first video of the unveiled F-TYPE across the globe, allowing fans to see the F-TYPE in action before the silk had even been lifted at the Paris Motor Show, which began the following day.

In the days following the event, we welcomed over 35,000 new fans to the Global Facebook page, and tracked over 2,800 uses of the #FTYPE hashtag on Twitter – in turn helping Jaguar write the next chapter in its iconic history.

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  • Hello

    What role did the F-TYPE wi-fi network play in the launch? – when connecting did users receive push-messaging in the form of the video or was it just so people could interact through social using the hashtags from devices that weren’y 3G enabled?

  • http://www.skiddmark.com Steve Davies

    Josh, one of the problems I noted with your approach to the F-TYPE’s launch was it was too heavily focused on ‘broadcast’ rather than true social engagement. I joked at the time saying it reminded me of ‘The Emperors new clothes’ – while you and Jaguar’s comms team were counting down to the unveil, those of us writing about the launch had already published 30 or more official images and had been ‘engaging’ with our readers on the details.

    Lana Del Rey’s performance was, as far as I can see, not captured as official brand content, so the communities are viewing shaky hand-held clips filmed by attendees of the event.

    The #FTYPE hastag worked in threading some conversations together, but when I track the sentiment raised I see a mix of uninformed non-influencers saying how lovely it looks, mixed with more informed voices questioning its price, the lack of a manual gearbox and its looks, which from some angles resembles Alfa’s Brera and Nissan’s 370Z Roadster. I appreciate that your hands are somewhat tied by the client (who I know quite well), but I’d really like to see ‘social launches’ living up to the name and actually ‘involving’ people with the focus being in their response (good or bad), rather than a carefully polished promotion of the brand.

    As you well know, social is about the mode of engagement, just as much as the channels of communication used.

  • joshsolana

    Hi Steve, thanks for those valid comments. As you know, there is always a careful balance to be played in ensuring that all parties (customers, brand enthusiasts, press, stakeholders) are involved in such a high-profile launch, but also to ensure that any content shared falls within agreed contracts and abides with any embargoes set. 

    Our role as Jaguar’s social agency was clearly only part of the wider mix but by being on the ground and sharing events as they unfolded, our hope was to involve our social communities in an otherwise exclusive, invitation-only party. We are only at the beginning of the F-TYPE launch programme though, and we hope to be able to involve our communities even more in the coming months.

  • http://twitter.com/JoshSolana Josh Solana

    Hi, the wi-fi network was in place to enable attendees to access and use social media at the event (there was no push-messaging). By letting people know the relevant channels and hashtag, we hoped to promote conversation about the F-TYPE amongst attendees and those not at the event, in addition to the coverage we were providing ourselves.

  • http://www.skiddmark.com Steve Davies

     Hi Josh, I quite understand about the constraints of meeting the needs of all stakeholders involved in running Jaguar’s social presence and I’m sure it can often be frustrating.

    You’ll not be surprised when I say that I believe social media agencies should be given more latitude than most are allowed.  As you know, successful social engagement depends on being ‘real’, avoiding any kind of corporate speak or pedantry.   That also means respecting the intelligence of users – you should be able to acknowledge when the cats-out-of-the-bag (on an embargo) and follow the vibe of the audience, rather than pretending it didn’t happen.  This merely undermines your social influence and reinforces brand ownership, which users couldn’t care less about.

    I know Jaguar’s marketing team can be quite fun and friendly, but they need to allow you the remit to engage at the audience’s level, rather than use social channels as just another broadcast medium.

    Just a thought.. (although I understand your hands are tied)