In years past, car buyers “researched” by visiting several dealerships, gathering information, and then making a decision. Today, they will typically walk into just ONE dealership, armed with all the info they need to negotiate, and make a car-buying decision. Dealer visits were lowest for Acura and were declining at a rate of 5% every six months in 2019.

Eighty-seven percent of Americans dislike the car-buying dealership experience and, as such, 70% of auto customers start their decision making digitally. We needed to influence consideration by getting people behind the wheel of an Acura before they chose another brand. As for our category specifically, we noticed that dealer visits were declining across all luxury automakers.

With that in mind, Acura asked us to relaunch the brand in a way that made sure it stayed relevant and top-of-mind in competition with brands that constantly outspend it many to one.

Car advertising is boring and predictable. Attention is bought with massive media budgets and gratuitous celebrity cameos. Fortunately for us, Acura has neither the budget nor the awareness to play things safe, so when we were asked to relaunch the brand, we decided to let the cars do the talking and let the fans play the story of Acura.

“Beat That: The Game” is a cross-platform racing game featuring six of the most iconic cars from across Acura’s 35-year history. Each car appeared in a unique level inspired by its era, with original music reminiscent of the time.

Shortly after game launch, the pandemic brought the world to a stop, leaving us all stuck at home, so we quickly developed and added new features to let both Acura fans and pro drivers challenge each other and race in real time from the comfort of their homes.

Next-generation luxury car buyers are the first generation of digital natives, and their affinity for technology has shaped how they shop and interact with the world at large. They order food with emojis, meet future spouses with a swipe right, and register to vote in “Animal Crossing.” This generation has carried their interest in video games into adulthood. The next-generation luxury buyer is more interested in video games and digital experiences than in test drives. Why? Because fantasy is better than reality. We wanted to translate their love of gaming and interactive experiences to help drive engagement with the Acura brand; 61% say they can’t live without their phones. They’re gadget geeks. They enjoy gaming—67% use their phones to play mobile games—so we brought this experience to life on their terms.

“Beat That” is the first mobile racing game where visuals from each individual level match the styles that were prevalent in games from that specific car’s era, with original music to match. It appeals to the nostalgia of our target audience that grew up playing the video games of that era. Players are given the ability to race six unique tracks in one of six Acura vehicles. Each track represents an iconic era of gaming, from the popular 8-bit style of the ’80s and ’90s to more photorealistic treatments of modern gaming.

The game launched on Facebook Instant Games, letting users play the game straight from the Facebook timeline, and as a cross-platform web game on mobile and desktop browsers. It was supported by paid media for eight weeks in the United States.

Despite only being supported by limited paid media (<$500k) in the United States, the game was played in almost every country in the world and covered by the press in 18 countries. More than 200,000 players have raced more than 600,000 laps and have played the game for more than seven minutes on average, more than 700% over the benchmark.

The game drove significant lift in consideration and purchase intent for Acura (3.6% uplift vs 2.0% benchmark) and a 5% increase in share of market whilst competitors such as Cadillac and Audi fell.