Mitsubishi to Launch ‘World’s First Online Test Drive’

LOS CABOS, MEXICO – Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. will unveil a social-media-oriented marketing campaign tomorrow, Oct. 8, to launch its new-for ’11 Outlander Sport cross/utility vehicle, calling the Web-based effort “the world’s first online test drive.”

“We needed to do something big, something different,” says Greg Adams, vice president-marketing and product planning at MMA.

Ward’s learns details of the campaign during a media event here for the Outlander, which arrives at dealers next month. Adams says the goal is to imitate the Fiesta Movement, a major social-media campaign by Ford Motor Co. to promote the arrival of the B-car from Europe.

But instead of putting 100 vehicles in the hands of consumers, as Ford did, to load their impressions of the car onto a dedicated website, MMA wants to lure people to the Outlander’s microsite where they can virtually test the CUV.

“We’re not Ford,” Adams says. “But this is unique and highly efficient.”

Adams hopes 6,000 people will participate in the test drive, which will span 10 days beginning on Oct. 15, with a total of some 20,000 signing up by giving their name, zip code and email address. “That would be a conservative estimate,” he says.

Participants will be emailed a time to enter the queue. They will take a short how-to lesson and then drive and learn about features of the Outlander Sport by using their computer keypad.

A leader board will rank participants who learn most about the CUV, and MMNA will award undisclosed prizes to winners.

Social-media marketing behind Outlander Sport launch.

“The point is, we want to bring people closer to the (Outlander Sport), instead of just sending them to the dealer,” says Adams, who wants to bring the sort of event-oriented marketing to MMNA that he ran while working with Ferrari of Japan.

Adams thinks Mitsubishi owners have the same passion for their vehicles as Ferrari owners, citing a recent convention at MMNA’s Normal, IL, assembly plant drawing more than 1,500 enthusiasts.

Alongside the virtual test drive, MMNA will launch the Mitsubishi Motors Generation M-Gen marketing campaign. Another social-media effort focusing on current owners and target customers also launches this month.

The two campaigns follow MMNA’s shakeup of its marketing firms, adding a new lead agency, interactive group and public-relations unit.

The Outlander Sport represents a key piece in Mitsubishi’s drive to regain annual delivery volumes of more than 100,000 units in the U.S., after the recession socked sales.

The auto maker in Japan also is trying to rebound from the global economic downturn, recalls and poor management decisions.

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