German brands like Mercedes-Benz are known for quality products and luxury appeal to the loyal fans around the world. At the same time, they face challenges to stay ahead and appeal to new and younger consumers—especially in a market like South Korea where societal, cultural and even generational shifts take place at a rapid speed.
Since 2006, PLATOON has established a broad network of marketing and creative professionals in South Korea with a core mission of cultural development, as well as engaging with a vibrant world of local artists, trendsetters and sub-culture players. Based on this these experiences, PLATOON has successfully launched campaigns and events for brands such as Adidas, Nike and Volkswagen.Last July, PLATOON embarked on a partnership with Mercedes-Benz to tackle this challenge of glocalization of the brand, or finding a way to make a locally sensitive and inspiring approach while simultaneously maintaining the brand’s core philosophy: “TheBest.” We first conducted extensive market research of both qualitative and quantitative insights. We analyzed big data and conducted an online survey of 1,000 people on their perceptions of imported German car brands. The qualitative methods included the consumer psychographic analysis (ZMET) and PLATOON’s own socio-cultural trend analysis (PIL).

REPOSITIONING OF THE STAR
We introduced the brand ambassadors representing the Progressive Modernists,ranging from a female world champion climber and a hip oriental doctor to a single-mom baby photographer and the second-generation fashion designers who celebrate their Korean heritage. By featuring their life stories together around the emotional values that are commonly cherished by these progressive models, such as pursuit of pleasure and personal expression, it inspired and resonated with the general audience at an emotional level and ultimately helped them link to the brand.

Even in the midst of the campaign series, we have received honest reactions from the fans who were inspired by the story of Jain Kim, expressing their engagement with the stories in a more emotional and personal way. The campaign has shown and reminded us of the importance of reflecting local values and emotions in addition to strong storytelling strategy in today’s marketing.
