Inside Jeep’s groundbreaking community-driven campaign

Background

Jeep is the most copied car brand in the world. For decades Jeep’s positioning has been “There’s Only One.” It's the original SUV that helped people go anywhere, do anything. However, Jeep is no longer the only capable SUV on the market. More and more carmakers are designing vehicles that resemble Jeeps. We needed to remind people with an adventurous mindset that Jeep is the one brand that truly delivers on their desire for freedom.

Other brands can copy our designs. But the one thing that differentiates Jeep, our greatest asset, is our powerful community – a network of passionate enthusiasts. They are a vibrant and welcoming group – a place for owners to connect with like-minded, free-spirited people where they can make lifelong friends.

It was time for Jeep to reinforce its bond with existing and prospective consumers to maintain our brand positioning by showcasing what sets us apart.

Creative Idea

Jeep is the most copied car brand in the world. But Jeep isn’t a car. It’s a way of life. Jeepers have powerful bonds with their vehicles. Their Jeeps are an extension of their personalities. They modify them and give them nicknames. So, while there are many Jeep lookalikes, there’s only one Ariana, Tornado, and Dark Knight.

Instead of promoting another Jeep our competitors could copy, we replaced every Jeep in our campaign with a unique creation owned by a Jeep enthusiast. Then, instead of promoting Jeep, we promoted their owners’ social channels. We harnessed our community's passion and creativity. Their content took centre stage, proving that a Jeep is more than a machine, and that it comes to life in the hands of the people who modify it and name it. This reinforced our campaign mantra, that Jeep isn't just made by a company. It's made by our people.

Strategy

People value individuality and pride themselves in owning their unique identity. 10% of Jeep owners in the GCC are categorized as ‘doers.’ They LOVE their Jeeps. They participate in organized group trips to the great outdoors. But more interestingly, they spend a lot of time and effort on customizing their Jeeps. Their Jeeps give them the freedom to express their personalities, creativity and passion. Most Jeepers even give their vehicles a nickname.

We wanted to nurture our relationship with this audience, while attracting new consumers who have the Jeep mindset. Jeep has 20,000 passionate community members in the Middle East who upload content every time they take their cars on adventures. Their content celebrates their deep connection with their cars and captures their unique bond with our brand. We wanted to harness the creativity of these individuals to remind the world There’s Only One 4x4 quite like ours.

Execution

We replaced every Jeep that our competitors could copy, with community-owned Jeeps no brand could copy. These unique Jeeps appeared everywhere in English and Arabic and featured the owners’ social usernames, driving consumers to their channels.

Each execution pulled people into a world of Jeep entertainment, connecting them with actual Jeepers, their 4x4s, and adventures. An endless amount of original content taught them more about Jeep modifications, new destinations, accessories, and local activities. Jeep UGC of ordinary people instantly transformed into Jeep branded content, and social profiles became digital Jeep showrooms.

In addition, templates and soundbites allowed Jeepers to easily create new Reels with their photos and videos. Finally, we released a social film, completely made of UGC, tagging our community as creators, again driving viewers to Jeepers' social profiles and content. All campaign elements worked together to prove our belief that we don't make Jeep. Our customers do.

Results

• Defying advertising conventions, we didn’t show shiny, new cars. We only showed used Jeeps covered in dirt and scratches.
• People who would ordinarily not spend much time on official Jeep channels, spent time interacting with Jeep content we never made or owned, but smartly claimed for ourselves.
• 8x greater engagement with Jeepers’ content compared to Jeep brand content.
• Reach greater than our competitors combined.
• 17,000 website visits
• 19% growth in Jeep club membership numbers.
• 21% increase in Jeep community outings.
• A 17% increase in women participating in community events
• Used cars sold new cars: Wrangler/Gladiator sales increased over 59% claiming back market share against our biggest competitor. Our campaign generated sales 6.9% higher than the industry standard.
• 17% increase in customizations of new cars sold.
• Our campaign was picked up by major industry blogs and magazines across the world.