Industry:
Automotive
Location:
Paris, France
http://driveds.co.uk
  • 45+ million impressions
  • 39 countries reached
  • 20% fan engagement rate

Introducing the DS Brand

Since the iconic Citroën DS car hit the market in 1955, the DS line has continued to grow in popularity under legendary French carmaker Citroën. In 2015, Citroën decided to spin off DS into a standalone premium brand coinciding with the launch of their fifth-generation model. This represented a crucial opportunity to make a splash for the DS brand name, so the team decided to live stream a launch event around the world.

Orchestrating a Massive Launch Event

DS chose Facebook as the optimal channel to drive awareness and promote their launch event across 39 countries. Yet scaling across a broad geography and executing on an exact schedule required a high level of coordination and advanced marketing capabilities. To ensure a successful launch, the DS team selected Marin Social to help them orchestrate and manage this special brand awareness campaign.

Executing on a Multi-Phase Strategy

DS developed a video advertising strategy with three phases: pre-launch teaser, livestream launch event, and post-event video replay. First, DS created page post video ads with Reach & Frequency targeting to maximize exposure for their pre-launch teaser. Marin Social made it easy to build relevant audience clusters, for example by targeting strategic keywords and interests optimized for CTR.

Second, DS took advantage of remarketing audiences to re-engage users who previously watched the teaser video with a link to the livestream event. This ensured DS was connecting with users who had already demonstrated interest, and who would likely want to view the livestream. Third, DS ran additional page post ads following the event to promote a video replay and reinforce brand awareness. These ads targeted users in the best-performing countries and strategic markets, as identified by Marin Social’s advanced reporting.

Each step of the way, Marin Social’s easy-to-use campaign management and reporting helped DS take their strategy to the next level. DS kept the campaign on track with custom scheduling to run ads at select times, and maintained control at all times using budget auto-pause. Marin Social was also key in being able to scale this three-phase campaign around the world in just five days.

Spreading Brand Awareness Around the World

The innovative approach DS took by combining video and sequential advertising strategies paid off. They achieved massive exposure from the Reach & Frequency phase of their campaign, with over 36 million impressions and nearly 8 million video views. Phase two of their campaign also produced a great response, garnering over 9 million impressions and generating steady traffic to the livestream launch event. Finally, DS effectively engaged their existing fan base with an impressive 20% engagement rate.