BRP handed its agencies a significant challenge with the launch of its latest campaign for its personal watercraft in the European market: public perception.
Many Europeans see Sea-Doos as vehicles used in dangerous and irresponsible sports and stunts. Agency partner Cossette, with support from Plus Company sister agency Septième, was tasked with the responsibility of broadening their perspectives by showcasing how the craft can be used to enjoy a broad range of aquatic activities. They did so by adopting a documentary approach and developing a content series that spoke to several target audiences based on their individual interests, from catch-and-release fishing to campaign, exploration and Van Life.
Septième conducted extensive pre-interviews and research to inform the storylines and develop its production strategy on a tight budget. It enlisted people including a Swedish fishing influencer and a group of outdoor adventurers from Greece. The strategy is an extension of its larger efforts to sell experiences over products.
“Connecting with hearts and minds is what we do,” notes Anne-Marie LaBerge, BRP’s chief marketing officer. “By telling stories from our rider’s perspective, we show the authentic passion people have for our products. It’s this kind of content that leans into our purpose: where experiences are measured in emotion rather than distance.”
The content series represented an important shift of gears for the brand – and a change of pace for the category – as it told the brand’s story through a new lens, according to Cedric Bonnet, marketing and consumer experience manager for BRP in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
“We have decided to move to high-level content with the idea of reaching the hearts and minds of consumers,” he tells strategy. “What we’ve realized is that emotions are global, and they are far easier to promote than product specifications. Each product spec can be interpreted differently in different countries, but emotions are universal.”
Bonnet cites a number of statistics the company tracked to make its case. One of the primary goals of the campaign was to attract new interest to the brand, and according to Bonnet, it drove a 200% increase in new user visits to the brand’s website.
Not only that, but consideration was also up, Bonnet says: the bounce rate – percentage of users who navigated away from the website after viewing a single page – fell by 15%, and video completion rate was “super high.”
“There’s also high interest from our brand enthusiasts,” he adds. “They’re really keen about seeing new uses for personal watercraft. So those visits increased, as well.”
Finally, the content series also helped to engage the brand’s European dealers, “who are a very important touchpoint for us because they’re the ones converting people into customers,” Bonnet says. “That was almost as important as the marketing KPIs we were tracking.”
It’s safe to say the brand considers the push a success, with clear next steps.
“We know that thanks to this new content, we are able to capture new audiences,” Bonnet says. “Now we need to nurture them and make sure we stay at the top of their minds and the brand continues to speak to them, in order to move them from product consideration and convert them in the coming months.”
It plans to do so through more broad-based content like this series, but also through targeted content specific to those audiences, he said.
