ABOUT

Mazda Motor Corporation is a Japanese automaker based in Hiroshima, Japan – producing vehicles to suit all needs from the iconic MX-5 Roadster to the practical CX-5, they are one of the largest car manufacturers in the world.
The MX-5 has always been about creating smiles and so Mazda challenged Jellyfish to create a unique campaign that increased brand awareness of their hero model and generate new brand advocates by celebrating the MX-5’s fantastic drive.
There are those who won’t like the MX-5 whatever the latest model, however amazing the improvements. To them, it’s always going to be a "girl’s car". It can’t be a "real" sports car and so on. But the funny thing is, these people are usually the same ones who’ve never even driven an MX-5. Ever. So Jellyfish changed all of that by converting them to a convertible.

The brief
Mazda set a brief to a number of agencies to come up with a campaign idea that could shift the perception of their famous model.
As part of the brief the client set the following objectives:
- Celebrate the new MX-5’s fantastic drive
- Generate social engagement and shares
- Generate new brand advocates for the new MX-5 model over a six-week campaign period

The solution
Not ones to shy away from some healthy competition, we got stuck in. The ideas were developed, shared and then made into an actual campaign.
The results of the campaign were presented back to Mazda for them to absorb, deliberate and pick a winner.
Through email outreach and social media engagement, Jellyfish identified a shortlist of drivers who really didn’t like the MX-5, some were even quite vocal about it, making the shift even better.
We invited those people to take part in our MX-5 Convert/able Challenge along with our expert driver. He met them, showed them how to get the most out of the car and then let them get behind the wheel to experience the car for themselves.
To allow our converts the opportunity to share their experiences with a wider audience, we told their stories through social media. We developed the tone of voice guidelines to ensure that in all communications we sounded as inspiring, upbeat and energetic as the car itself.
"The MX-5 is great fun to drive but it’s also a serious piece of machinery. The living evolution of over 25 years of refining, testing and improving. It’s well-equipped, thoughtful, smart, and practical. So we needed to sound like it. We needed to sound passionate, realistic, smart and full of zing. Always remembering that we were talking about the world’s best-selling sports car. You drive it, you buy it, you love it."
After all this hard work we're thrilled to say our campaign came out on top and we won the competition! We received our prize of five MX-5's for a month, which the entire UK office got to enjoy.

- 14,000 organic Twitter views
- 885 organic Facebook engagements
- 2,000 organic YouTube video views

"This was a brilliantly constructed, expertly executed initiative that went to the heart of the challenge and tackled influential consumers with poorly informed, lazy presumptions about the car, using their experiential journey to persuade others." - Jeremy Thomson, Managing Director, Mazda Motors UK