Campaign Summary

To support the launch of its 2018 Wrangler, Jeep released an app that allowed consumers to design and view their own versions of the vehicle in an AR environment.

Strategy

Objective and Context:

Wrangler owners and fans held high expectations for the launch of the 2018 Jeep Wrangler. They’d been waiting a long time for an upgrade; the previous generation was introduced in 2007. Jeep’s strategic objectives in the lead-up to the hotly anticipated launch of the 2018 model were two-fold:

1. Near the top of the conversion funnel, Jeep sought to build excitement and interest in a vehicle that Wrangler fans couldn’t see in person because it hadn’t launched yet.
2. Nearer to the bottom of the conversion funnel, Jeep hoped to channel that excitement into consumers’ efforts to design their ideal 2018 Wrangler on the brand’s AR app and find it at a nearby dealership.

These two objectives guided Jeep’s selection of success measures, which it identified as increased engagement and increased purchase interest.

Target Audience:

The essences of the Jeep brand are adventure, freedom, and passion. In the past, the brand evoked these themes with images of deserted trails in the wilderness. But new Wrangler drivers, drawn from generations Y and Z, use technology to push boundaries and explore their world. For them, the distinction between online and offline is increasingly blurred. Adventure isn’t limited by where they live or what they drive; it’s available on a phone that fits in their pocket.

Creative Strategy:

Jeep wanted to give Wrangler owners and prospective owners a way to experience the 2018 Wrangler that was just as engaging as the vehicle itself. ARKit and ARCore technologies allowed the brand to deliver this experience in an AR environment that provided unmatched product fidelity.

Execution

Overall Campaign Execution:

Wrangler has always striven to break new ground. At CES 2018 (formerly the Consumer Electronics Show), Jeep launched the Adventure Reality app to demonstrate that this pioneering spirit guided its approach not just to the trail but to technology as well. The app enabled users to:

• Select a Wrangler model (Sport, Sport S, Sahara, or Rubicon) and the number of doors
• Choose its exterior paint color, wheel size and top-configuration (hard top or soft top)
• Customize its interior by selecting from different multimedia interfaces, dashboard colors and fabrics
• Remove its doors
• Share a vehicle design through social channels
• Save it, alongside other designs, in a virtual garage
• Have it built and find it at a nearby dealership
• View it in one of five fully-interactive 360-degree virtual environments (desert, forest, hillside, mountains, and city).

Mobile Execution:

The introduction of ARKit and ARCore in the fall of 2017 opened up an entirely new way for brands to interact with consumers. Overnight, anyone with a recent Apple or Android phone could access boundary-pushing branded experiences by simply opening an app. Jeep used this powerful technology to give Wrangler fans a way to view and explore the 2018 Wrangler before actually seeing it in real life, allowing the brand’s digitally-native target buyers to experience the 2018 Wrangler through the same lens that they used to experience other aspects of their lives.

Results (including context, evaluation, and market impact)

Adventure Reality users spent an average of four minutes and 44 seconds on the app — an impressive degree of engagement when compared with the 20 seconds that the average viewer devotes to an online video. The ways in which users divided their time on the app further demonstrated their engagement. The average user spent one minute and 50 seconds building his or her Jeep and then another one minute and 49 seconds viewing it in one of the five 360-degree virtual environments.  This engagement wasn’t an end in itself, but helped to stoke purchase interest: 18 percent of those who used the app priced their vehicle after configuring it, and 6 percent of users browsed the current inventory to find it.