The Situation

In the world of music, Mercedes-Benz reigns supreme. With 16,415 songs paying homage to the brand, it’s more than a car maker – it's a cultural icon. But despite this, many members of the new generation see it simply as another high-end carmaker.

The Brief

Establish Mercedes-Benz as a pop culture icon to maintain appeal with future markets (Gen Y, Gen Z).

The Objective

Reinforce Mercedes-Benz's position as a pop culture icon (especially among young adults) by strengthening the brand's image among its future-market audience, which demonstrated a significant affinity for music.

Mercedes-Benz is currently the most mentioned car brand in the history of music with 16,415 tracks.

This observation justified our creative approach, involving the takeover of Radio Nova's programming (France's most demanding national music radio station) for 24 hours. During this period, we exclusively broadcast songs that centered around Mercedes-Benz, complemented by 15 exclusive podcasts unveiling the captivating stories behind these musical tributes.

To amplify our reach, we immersed ourselves in French music culture with a limited-edition double vinyl release of 2,000 copies and a musical showcase in collaboration with Universal Music.

This campaign also includes OOH posters in the metro, on Mercedes-Benz and Radio Nova social networks, and in dealerships, where customers were able to enjoy a selection of tracks from "The Iconic Playlist" at the wheel of Mercedes-Benz cars.

Our analysis using the Genius.com database revealed that Mercedes-Benz was currently the most mentioned car brand in the history of music with 16,415 tracks.

This observation justified our creative approach, involving the takeover of Radio Nova's programming (France's most renowned national music radio station) for 24 hours. During this period, we exclusively broadcast songs that centered around Mercedes-Benz, complemented by 15 exclusive podcasts unveiling the captivating stories behind these musical tributes.

With this approach we achieved something unprecedented by exclusively playing songs that mention the brand for 24 hours. And what makes it even more interesting is that we were able to do so without compromising the quality of the radio's music programming, as we carefully selected only the most iconic of these songs in order to make this campaign organic and seamless for the listeners.

First, we created a playlist of the most iconic songs mentioning Mercedes-Benz (curated from the 16,415 tracks mentioning the brand).

And we also produced 15 exclusive podcasts revealing the story behind famous songs and artists that were inspired by the brand and its cars (including Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, Janis Joplin or Ella Fitzgerald).

Secondly, with this iconic playlist, we took control of France's most respected music radio station (Radio Nova), where our playlist simply replaced their music programming for 24 hours.

Then, to extend our reach beyond this media event, we launched a limited-edition vinyl featuring the playlist and hosted a musical showcase in collaboration with Universal Music.

This campaign also includes OOH posters driving to the playlist and dealerships activations where customers were able to enjoy a selection of tracks from "The Iconic Playlist" at the wheel of Mercedes-Benz cars.

"The Iconic Playlist" had a direct impact on the growing success of the Mercedes-Benz brand in France, reinforcing its image and fostering positive perception among future-buyers of the brand.

A YouGov study conducted in France between Q1 and November 2023 revealed that Mercedes-Benz gained 3.5 points in positive perception among the GenZ/GenY target following the campaign.

During the radio takeover, the brand achieved its highest search volumes of the year on Google, surpassing even those during new model launches (source: Google Trends). This underscores its success in generating heightened interest and engagement with the brand.

This notable surge confirms the effectiveness this radio-hacking strategy, solidifying the brand's connection with music and captivating a younger audience who actively embraced the campaign.

As a result, we achieved 44 million organic impressions and generated over €340K in earned media value for the brand (by almost simply playing cool songs on the radio).