Client: Caterpillar
Understanding and awareness for boring, complicated "service plans"? We needed a "crash course."
Customer research for our trusted clients at Caterpillar told us Cat® Customer Value Agreements lacked awareness. People needed to hear about the program — and get it. So we devised a product ‘crash course’, blending commercial entertainment with jam-packed value messaging. Paired with a sweepstakes and testimonials, marketing efforts never looked back.
  • Research
  • Content Strategy
  • Creative Activation
  • Motion Media
  • Analytics

Challenge

Marketing product education
After building out core materials for a highly matrixed service offering, research showed less than 1 in 5 customers had heard of Cat CVAs. We needed an awareness vehicle to fully unpack the three major benefit messages: 1) hassle-free; 2) security; 3) peace of mind. It would take deep understanding of product and service knowledge, and clients willing to “go there” with us.

Solution

A little humor, lots of substance
The ‘big idea’ centered on a flagship explainer video starring an “everyman” spokesperson to tackle the dense topic of equipment service plans in a magnetic way. The commercial explainer features 90 seconds of CVA-related rolling action — both the spokesperson rolling a toy Cat truck through a brick wall, and the campaign rolling through the clutter of any social feed.

Outcome

And that … is a CVA

This combination of facts and fun – plus a chance to win a sweepstakes – checked all the boxes for Caterpillar marketing. It saw 14 million impressions, a click-through rate 4x the original video and 6,000 sweepstakes submissions, half of them new sales leads. Years later, and several sequel campaigns, research shows nearly 3 in 4 customers now know about CVAs.

CVA ‘Crash Course’ took home a Silver Telly Award for Branded Content, reinforcing the marketing adage, “It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it.” Beyond that, our spokesperson became a CVA mainstay, featuring in a dozen videos in three years since the ‘crash course’, including on-site coverage at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2023.

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