I’ve wanted to write about the marketing they’re doing for the Evoque for a while now.  They just keep coming up with new things, like a twitpic scavenger hunt for the Evoque wireframes in LA before the big reveal next week.  I just wasn’t sure if I want to be critical of it or not and my mind has changed over time.  So I’ll just break it down a little.

With regard specifically to the Pulse of the City app – at first I didn’t get it but then I tried it out and created this cool visualization of a short trip the other day.  It’s a simple app you install on your iOS device, you hit start at the beginning of your trip and end when you reach your destination.  It uses the live GPS data to plot points along the way, then it emails you a visualization of your trip, as seem below.  I had thought it was just for the “City Shapers” but it’s more then that.

It’s a neat idea with a cool personalized product at the end, you should check it out.

Now on to the City Shapers, this I’m not as cool with.  It’s described as:

40 influential names from ten cities, working in fashion, design, music and film who will collaborate with Range Rover over the next 12 months to launch the highly anticipated Range Rover Evoque.

When I heard this the first time, I didn’t think much of it in the way of paid product endorsement.  But then the news started appearing about how these celebrities are getting paid to tweet about the Evoque to their many followers.  I know it’s not a new thing, and getting paid for things like this is becoming more common, but I just don’t think it’s transparent enough.  Using Twitter to broadcast about a product and not have a clear “Promotional considerations provided by” tag really seems like it would hurt Twitter in the long run?  And it seems like it would be disingenuous to the actual followers to just be getting basically commercial messages without any notification

Here you can see an actual promoted follow suggestion from @RangeRoverUSA:

That is clearly marked that it’s promoted, and I have no problem with that.  But then you have tweets from @bevysmith, one of the New York City Shapers.  It’s not as clear as to whether or not she’s being paid to mention the Evoque.

On researching this, I found some great articles on the subject from people who write a lot better then I can, you should check them out:

Twitter: just another channel for celeb endorsement?

Range Rover use brand and consumer generated content to engage consumers about new models

And there was one tweet that I now can’t find!!  The tweeter worded it very well on how this is a slippery slope between advertising and a true experience – when I find it, I’ll update this article.

And Land Rover Range Rover did clarify the program:

Range Rover this week announced that it has recruited 40 global “city shapers” to drive the new Range Rover Evoque car and be part of the Pulse of the City campaign. These people are all well known voices in their city and come from the fields of art, culture, film, music, fashion, TV in fact anywhere where they’ve made a mark in their own city. They have an interesting and often talked about point of view and appreciate the design thought that has gone in to producing the new Range Rover car.
Further to recent press speculation about celebrities being paid to tweet without acknowledging their association, Range Rover would like to reinforce the fact that at no time have its city shapers been paid just to tweet or endorse our products without acknowledgement.  Each will be loaned a new Evoque and will then recount their experiences as part of the Pulse of the City campaign in their own ways. If Twitter is used, it is through their own choice, what they say is determined by them and will always be linked to Range Rover and the Pulse of the City campaign.  All of our City Shapers have been announced on the Helloevoque.com .

So maybe that’s their out, if they aren’t actually paying them anything and just loaning the car, they don’t have to feel as guilty about it?  The more transparent the better!!

Just going to close on some more criticism , I really think the Evoque turned out well and hope that it’s really successful for Land Rover Range Rover, but do you really think any of these City Shapers wouldn’t just have a real Range Rover?  Like the just announced fifth City Shaper for New York City, New York Jets star cornerback Darrelle Revis, do you really think he’s showing up on game day in a little Evoque or a real Range Rover Autobiography?  And calling back to the @bevysmith tweets above, being in NYC, how many people really do drive themselves?  And how many of these City Shapers would actually drive themselves in NYC?  Why not just use a Taxi or car service – do these Evoque’s come with a driver?  And if you’re going to have a driver, wouldn’t they use a full size vehicle, sort of no compromise?  And I know they’re really marketing it as a city car, but driving in the city is never like the driving in their videos of car-less London.  To me, you drive in the city if you have to, not because you want to.

Just my opinion!

Press releases to follow:

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