ABOUT

CONCEPT
How do you turn an unknown car brand into one of the fastest-selling in the UK in under 12 months?

JAECOO entered the UK market as a completely unknown automotive brand with zero awareness, no heritage, and a wave of scepticism and ‘copycat’ accusations already forming. In a category where trust is everything, credibility couldn’t be claimed. It had to be earned.
'Earning Our Badge' was built on a simple but powerful idea: don’t claim credibility. Prove it.

We used social as the engine to make trust visible, creating a system where audiences could watch the brand earn its place through real-world performance, cultural relevance, and authentic storytelling. By focusing on a core ‘Hunter’ audience and three key pillars - Exploration, Tech & Innovation, and Lifestyle - we built a strategy designed to turn scepticism into belief.

EXECUTION
We transformed social into a continuous proof engine, delivering a high-frequency stream of platform-native content across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.

Across 745 assets over 15 months, JAECOO’s vehicle range was consistently put to the test through real-world challenges, everyday scenarios, and narrative-led series. Every piece of content was designed to demonstrate capability - not declare it - turning repetition into belief.
Rather than relying on one-off moments, we built momentum. Creator partnerships embedded the brand into trusted communities, with authentic voices experiencing JAECOO in context, transforming content into validation, and validation into advocacy.

Cultural presence accelerated this effect. From Goodwood and CarFest to EPCR Finals, JAECOO showed up where audiences already were. Our role was to capture and translate these moments into social-first storytelling and amplify them in real time to extend their reach far beyond the physical experience.

The strength of this creative system allowed the work to scale beyond social. High-performing social content supported, informed, and shaped executions across OOH, TV, and large-scale formats, from stadium takeovers to the iconic BFI IMAX and Outernet, ensuring the same creative idea was experienced consistently everywhere.

The result was a campaign that burst beyond its social bubble and travelled further than ever anticipated. Audiences didn’t just see JAECOO in action. They followed it. Experienced it. And believed. Again, and again, and again.

RESULTS
'Earning Our Badge' transformed JAECOO from unknown entrant to category leader in just 15 months, proving a direct link between social-first creativity and commercial success.

From zero presence, JAECOO rapidly built scale and trust:
• 310M+ impressions, 162M+ video views, 71,000+ followers from zero
• 60% of engagement driven by the core target audience

This translated into active intent:
• Monthly brand searches increased +6,775%
• “JAECOO dealership” searches grew +3,150%, signalling purchase consideration

And this shift in behaviour delivered real commercial impact:
• Fastest-selling plug-in hybrid SUV in the UK (2025)
• J7: No.2 fastest-selling car in the UK overall
• Market share from 0% to 3.4% in 12 months
• 33,000+ UK registrations in year one
• #1 best-selling new car in Jan & March 2026

By making credibility visible at scale, 'Earning Our Badge' compressed years of brand-building into one, turning trust into demand and a challenger into one of the UK’s fastest-growing automotive brands.