Volvo Vehicles’ bestselling XC60 crossover has an issue — it has the oldest buyer physique of any Volvo mannequin.
XC60 prospects are 55 years outdated, or about 5 years older than the Volvo model’s common.
To introduce the midsize crossover to youthful consumers, the Swedish automaker has collaborated with YouTuber Andrew Huang. The Canadian content material creator has produced a video that could be a soundtrack of auto sounds — clicking seat belts, blinking headlights, shutting doorways and swiveling mirrors — blended right into a techno monitor.
The 1:05-minute YouTube video additionally serves as product advertising and marketing, highlighting the automobile’s swipe-based sunroof controls, Google-based infotainment system and air air purifier.
Volvo Automotive USA advertising and marketing boss Leigh Moynihan stated market analysis exhibits XC60 consumers are design-focused and technology-focused.
“We needed a chance to see if we may create a brand new piece for XC60 that would introduce our viewers in a brand new and interesting strategy to the completely different options of the automotive,” Moynihan informed Automotive Information.
The XC60, which competes with the Audi Q5, BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC, accounted for greater than a 3rd of Volvo’s U.S. gross sales final yr, or 41,582 autos.
Moynihan stated Huang’s 2.3 million YouTube channel subscribers give Volvo entry to a demographic goal market of 25- to 44-year-olds. Huang’s subscribers are between 25 and 34 years outdated.
“It offers us that chance to hit the candy spot in a means that is entertaining,” Moynihan stated. “We’re continually difficult our media companions to deliver us alternatives and new methods to achieve our audiences.”
The collaboration features a behind-the-scenes-look video wherein Huang and producer Keeley Bumford present viewers how they “made a banger out of automotive sounds.”
“The trunk sounded actually dynamic as a result of it is a kind of hydraulic closing issues,” Bumford stated within the video. “So we determined that it made sense to shut the beat with the closing of the trunk.”
The video makes the product the hero whereas “giving a ton of latitude to the creator by way of how they convey the product story to life,” Moynihan stated.
“There are loads of actually superb options throughout the automobile that we wish to introduce youthful audiences to,” she stated. “It [allows] us to assist change the notion of the Volvo model.”
Automakers view YouTube as a strong platform to market to the following era of shoppers. With greater than 14 billion month-to-month visits, the Google-owned video service is the second-most-visited web site with males ages 25 to 34, accounting for YouTube’s largest demographic, at 11.6 p.c.
It is no surprise advertisers are pouring advertising and marketing {dollars} into YouTube adverts and content material. The platform’s world advert income was $28 billion in 2021, up 46 p.c from the yr earlier than.
Social channels are enticing advertising and marketing platforms for automakers due to the power to focus on particular audiences and the extent of engagement these channels can deliver.
Influencer-generated content material delivers a preexisting viewers and permits the automaker to capitalize on the creator’s model, stated Invoice Daddi, president of New York advertising and marketing firm Daddi Model Communications.
“The target right here is to construct fairness by benefiting from the picture and personas that influencers have established with their viewers,” Daddi stated. “So the activation must be natural and align with what audiences anticipate from these creators.”
The YouTube format permits manufacturers to be extra artistic with content material than a typical 30-second TV industrial.
Moynihan stated YouTube gives a “nice alternative” for customers to dive deep, watching product evaluations and exploring automobile options and applied sciences.
Volvo stated it should use Google’s analytics platform to trace viewer response to the XC60 video, which is able to assist it fine-tune manufacturing advertising and marketing.
“It is a chance to see the place shopper curiosity lies,” Moynihan stated. “We now have plans to check out whether or not or not customers are responding extra favorably to the design elements of the automotive versus expertise.”