Mitsubishi drives its ad campaign entirely to the web

Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. was so pleased with the response it received from its first-ever combination TV and web advertising campaign during last year’s Super Bowl that the auto maker is staging an encore -- this time entirely on the Internet.

Last year’s "See What Happens" campaign resulted in 31 million visits to SeeWhatHappens.com after Mitsubishi aired the TV commercial during the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl ad tripled the web leads the TV/Internet campaign had generated for its 630 U.S. dealers. Now Mitsubishi wants to build on that web activity with a new web-only campaign.

The new web campaign, which Mitsubishi is launching this weekend and promoting on SeeWhatHappens.com, MitsubishiCars.com and through targeted e-mail campaigns, invites car shoppers to a special 10-city, eight-week test drive event in major cites such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago where they can test drive and compare Mitsubishi models against competing models from Honda and Toyota

The campaign, dubbed "Feel What Happens," is Mitsubishi’s attempt to sustain its web advertising program with a new twist and generate more leads for dealers.

"Since we launched SeeWhatHappens.com, we’ve had over 8 million unique visitors to the site, and that’s created new lead generation opportunities for dealers," says Ian Beavis, senior vice president of product development, marketing and public relations for Mitsubishi Motors North America. "The campaign has focused our efforts to identify who’s coming to our web sites to research a new vehicle and buy."

Since launching web advertising as a lead generation tool for its dealers, Beavis says visitors who come to SeeWhatHappens.com and then follow through with a confirmed visit to a Mitsubishi dealer are four times as likely to purchase a new vehicle as those just conducting basic research.

The original Super Bowl ad featured a Mitsubishi Gallant racing a Honda Accord to the end of a bridge in a braking comparison test. The ad began on TV, but made viewers log on to the web and SeeWhatHappens.com to view the ending.

Once on the site, visitors could compare features of the 2004 Mitsubishi Gallant against the Accord and Camry, view different comparison videos and use a dealer locator link to request further information or a test drive.

The new web campaign now urges potential Mitsubishi buyers to sign up for comparison test drives during the upcoming 10-city tour.

Using web advertising as a lead generation tool for dealers, Beavis says Mitsubishi can now begin to more closely analyze its online car-shopping customers, who tend be college-educated, upper-income and with growing families. "We now know they are broadband connected and that we’ve caught their interest," Beavis says.

To provide initial and ongoing support for its web advertising campaigns, Mitsubishi is using Akamai Technologies Inc., Beavis says.