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Land Rover Aims To 'Go Beyond' TV Ads to Reach Tech-Savvy Customers


May 2006
 Filed under: LAND ROVER Car News | LAND ROVER Headlines
By Kristopher Spencer, FCN, May 9, 2006 -- A Land Rover SUV scales a steep incline, balancing diagonally on two wheels and using its traction control to stabilize and overcome the obstacle before taking on the next challenge. What sounds like an off-road experience is actually taking place on a street in Manhattan during the Land Rover G4 Challenge.
That video highlight comes from one of the programs available on Land Rover's Go Beyond 24/7 broadband TV channel, the first of its kind by any brand. By offering unique, interactive and rich video content, Go Beyond TV is engaging digital savvy consumers interested in travel, adventure and the Land Rover lifestyle.

"Go Beyond amplifies Land Rover's core brand promise of going beyond personal boundaries and experiencing adventure in its many forms," said Phil Popham, managing director of Land Rover. "Go Beyond TV will also enhance our dealer environments, and work in tandem with our landrover.com Web site to drive sales and further improve customer loyalty."

Launched at the New York International Auto Show in April, Go Beyond TV addresses a chief concern in the advertising world: How can an automaker engage the young car buyers who spend more time surfing the Internet than watching TV, and when they do watch TV use technology like digital video recorders to skip ads?

"Younger Land Rover customers aren't sitting in front of the TV. They're active, on the move and more difficult to pin down," said David Stubley, chief executive of Performance Worldwide, a London division of MindShare, a media planning and buying agency that developed the idea for the Land Rover channel. "Go Beyond TV aims to reach those customers on their terms."

As part of Land Rover's long-term Internet marketing strategy, Go Beyond TV is built on the cornerstones of Land Rover's lifestyle proposition of contemporary, premium and adventure.

The site's six unique programming categories offer streaming videos ranging from travelogues of the "Great Palaces of the World," sports clips like "Free Skiing in the Alps," lifestyle vignettes about mixing a perfect cocktail in Iceland and much more. Along the way viewers see clever Land Rover commercials and clips featuring "brand ambassadors" like tennis player Maria Sharapova and sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.

Go Beyond's fully searchable video library is a blend of original content and material from the Discovery Channel, Land Rover's award-winning One Life customer magazine and sponsored partners including Born Free, Biosphere Expeditions and the Royal Geographical Society.

"The Web site is inclusive and aspirational," said Steve Hobbs, editor of Go Beyond. "Adventure means different things to different people and we intend to cover a wide range of extraordinary activities."

Land Rover is at the forefront of the trend to reach target audiences through unique Net-based "TV" programming. The only other automaker using a comparable approach is Audi, which has a satellite TV channel in the United Kingdom. But as Stubley points out, Land Rover's approach is less expensive to produce and offers more flexible viewing options.

"Land Rover has been a digital pioneer in Europe, experimenting with PDA and mobile applications," Stubley said. "And the team has an appetite to innovate."

Stubley is encouraged by the excitement that the campaign has generated in the media, and he sees great potential to create similar content-rich Internet TV channels for other Ford brands.

"It's an innovative approach for communicating with customers," Stubley said. "There appears to be unlimited potential for creating unique content-driven broadband channels for other Ford brands, too."

Not only is Go Beyond TV available to any broadband user, Land Rover dealerships on both sides of the Atlantic have the option to use the site to enhance the showroom environment and the customer's brand experience. Also, Go Beyond will be incorporated into Land Rover displays at major auto shows, and will be ultimately available for download to mobile phones and hand-held consoles like the Sony PSP or iPod. Although Go Beyond was launched in English, other languages will be rolled out approximately one year into its broadcast.

Source: Land Rover

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