Live vehicle launches will survive, some automakers say

Automakers that quickly moved to online product launches after COVID-19 shut down air travel and limited gatherings say they’ve been able to generate a similar amount of media coverage for new vehicles, but they are keen to return to live events when conditions permit.

As examples, Ford Motor Co. launched its most important product, the 2021 F-150 pickup, online, followed by the Bronco and F-150 Raptor. Also online, Nissan Motor Co. launched the Ariya, Rogue, Kicks, Frontier, Pathfinder and Z Proto. Kia will be doing the same with its new version of the Sedona, which might include a name change in Canada and its being “a multipurpose vehicle” instead of a minivan.

While the amount of exposure that the launches have generated is similar to that of the in-person versions, live events add dimension, said Didier Marsaud, a spokesman for Nissan Canada.

“What you’re missing [with online events] is the personalization, the ‘I’m here in beautiful Banff’ bits [for a media event] that gives stories colour,” he said.

When Ford launched the 2019 Mustang Bullitt in January 2018 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, it brought onstage one of the two Mustangs from the 1968 movie Bullitt — and its then-owner Sean Kiernan — and Molly McQueen, granddaughter of late actor Steve McQueen, who starred in the movie.

Global media in attendance gobbled it up.

Adding McQueen and Kiernan to the live reveal was a masterstroke in generating coverage, Larry Edsall, a veteran automotive author and founding editor of classiccars.com, told Automotive News Canada.

“I doubt the buzz would have been nearly as noteworthy without the Kiernan family agreeing to reveal the whereabouts of the real Bullitt Mustang,” Edsall said. “That was the news, much more than Ford producing yet another tribute car it was calling the Bullitt.”

COSTLY MEDIA EVENTS

Typically, for specific new-product media events, car companies will pay the expenses, including air travel and hotel, of selected auto and lifestyle writers, bloggers and social-media influencers. Such driving events can take place in nearly any locale and, factoring in logistics — such as booking senior executives — can be costly. Select media are also invited to major auto shows with the automakers usually picking up the tab.

Online might not be personal, but it has proved to save time.

“I can block [Nissan Canada CEO] Steve [Milette] for an hour [for an online reveal],” Marsaud said. “I don’t have to block him for three days.”

But with facility rentals, online infrastructure, staffing, staging and videography and editing, the price tag of an online reveal can approach that of a press conference at a major international auto show.

“The costs are very comparable, and there’s not a lot of saving there,” Marsaud said. “The main saving is the travel and lodging for the media, but it is just a small part of the cost.”

Christine Hollander, a spokeswoman for Ford Canada, said she’s satisfied with the amount of media coverage generated by online reveals.

“After a reveal, such as Bronco, I get so many emails [from media] saying it was a great presentation and asking all sorts of questions.”

On Feb. 3, Ford launched the F-150 Raptor, also online.

Hollander, based in Montreal, and her colleagues in Oakville, Ont., and Dearborn, Mich., “had to get very creative” in response to government-imposed restrictions brought on by COVID-19, she said.

The online launches have been as carefully choreographed as press conferences at auto shows, with elaborate staging, lighting, fog machines, lasers, pounding music and turntables to rotate the subject vehicles, she said.

Presentations will cut to videos showcasing details or offering testimonials from customers given early access to vehicles.

Ford’s online reveals typically have two components: one for media to allow reporters to ask detailed questions of engineers, designers and marketing executives, while a separate public reveal allows the company to broadcast its message directly to consumers.

‘NO BETTER WAY’ THAN LIVE

Still, both Marsaud and Hollander said they plan to return to live events as soon as possible.

“There’s no better way than to see and touch the vehicle and have the engineer and designer on hand to answer questions,” Hollander said.

Companies such as Nissan and Toyota have inched their way back to live media events, at least up until the recent lockdowns in Quebec and Ontario. Such efforts have involved about six to 10 members of the media who don’t travel outside their jurisdictional bubbles and have dispensed with group dinners and group presentations.

Marsaud won’t predict when traditional live reveals will return.

To connect directly with customers, Nissan launched its online Nissan Studio on Dec. 1. Customers can interact live with an agent, watch a video tour of vehicles and options and get live demonstration answers to questions such as, “Will a set of golf clubs fit in the Sentra’s trunk?”

Adam Paterson, director of marketing at Nissan Canada, said that in the roughly two months of operation, the studio has hosted 25,200 guests to its live broadcasts and conducted 870 individual sessions with prospective customers. The studio is currently at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre and features the Rogue, Sentra and Versa. Plans are to move to a larger location and include more of the company’s lineup.