Problem
Buying a car is one of life’s major decisions and a very personal one. However marketers typically default to mass marketing tactics – showing that same TVC, print ad and online banner to everyone.
They rely on their salespeople to answer all the tricky questions – however consumers aren’t very trusting of salespeople. They are visiting dealerships only 1.5x prior purchase nowadays versus 6x only a few years ago. Instead, they’re making their car purchase decision after trawling through online information and relying on the advice of their friends who have a passion for cars.
Our idea was to be that friend… through millions of conversations – all powered through artificial intelligence and with a sense of cheekiness not usually found in dealerships.
And so we introduced everybody’s new messaging friend, the “NiroBot.”
Results
Where the industry standard is to launch a car with a ton of TV ads, pages of print and zillions of banner ads, we launched the Kia Niro hybrid with a conversation. A million multi-media conversations in fact, delivered by NiroBot.
NiroBot was the first chatbot ever to launch a Super Bowl ad, contributing to the Niro topping the charts as the most viewed Super Bowl commercial of 2017, delivering millions of earned media value.
Since launching in November 2016, more than 1 million conversations have been started, each typically lasting between 1 and 4 minutes. What started as a test, is evolving to a business specific platform initiative where additional vehicles and capabilities are on the roadmap of this technology. NiroBot was also heralded by Forbes and other media as setting the benchmark for consumer interaction.
- Conversational Interfaces
- Creative Direction
- Development