Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, we were briefed on a holiday campaign that would not only uplift people’s spirits, but also allow them to travel safely. As we all know well, airline travel was heavily restricted in 2020. Because of this pandemic, we discovered people really missed getting on planes. So much so that they even missed hearing the in-flight safety video that was synonymous with that “getaway from it all” feeling.

Since flying wasn’t an option, we casted Jane Lynch to star in an In-Drive Safety Video with the GLC SUV parodying the pre-takeoff videos. We executed a media plan across all Social media platforms to promote safe and luxurious holiday travel as only the industry leader in safety could do.

2020 forced us to give up a lot of things. Even things we take for granted, like dining in, shaking hands, and, of course, flying. Not only did people miss flying to exotic locations — they missed the smaller things, like pre check, stale airplane food, and even In-Flight Safety Videos.

To give people that familiar taste of flying we created an In-Drive Safety Video for the Mercedes-Benz GLC. This comedy campaign starred actor Jane Lynch and lived on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. To the theme of a safety video, Jane Lynch showed off all the GLC’s features, while slinging one liners.

Families needed a way to pack up their things and head to their parent’s house or that vacation spot that they desperately needed after a long 2020. We wanted to show these families that the GLC SUV gives them everything they need for their holiday travel, from a quiet cabin and spacious interior to new driver assistance packages and tech. We wanted to target a younger family demographic of millennials who regularly opt for airline travel to show them the GLC is a hassle-free mode of travel.

Through our Facebook betatyping research, we found that humor resonated with millennials over other messaging tactics. We rolled out this social media campaign parodying in-flight safety videos where this demographic will see it and takeaway the comfort, safety, and tech that the GLC has to offer them through engaging and relatable humor.

The campaign launched ?

It lived on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Scale?

While this campaign saw strong organic reach in a highly competitive holiday media market, it also generated a front page headline in Ad Age . With 1.5M social organic impressions, 179K video views, and 60K engagements, this content performed 17.3% higher than our 2019 benchmarks. We also received some of the more quality DM responses on Instagram that we received all year. Verbatims included “I am very picky about ads I like, and this is the best one I’ve seen for months.” As well as “this is the laughter and joy we need right now. Thank you, Mercedes.”