In August 2007, Smart launched the new generation Smart Fortwo; more powerful, agile and roomier than the original. Rather than just championing one aspect of the car, our brief was to create a DM piece that positioned the car as being able to deliver ‘happier city driving’. The target audiences were current Smart owners looking to upgrade and current Mercedes-Benz owners looking for a second car. We wanted to encourage test drives and ultimately, drive sales of the car.

We created a fictional lifestyle coach called Dr Tridion who delivered a whole new philosophy on city driving. ‘The Road to Enlightenment’ is a light-hearted and entertaining self-help course, designed to help you become a happier driver. The ‘Glovebox Guru’ contains well-written cards, which you keep in your glovebox to refer to in times of stress. They have product features on them and pearls of wisdom like “If the red mist descends, don the green helmet of harmony”. The writing is a lovely pastiche of lifestyle gurus written syle that has been used across websites, banners and tube cards.

At the time of writing this entry, we had not received the results of the mailing.