Land Rover plots campaign extension after ‘huge engagement’

Land Rover is looking at ways it can extend its ‘Can and Will’ campaign beyond this summer after its marketing director said it has been the most successful campaign so far at tapping into the emotion around the brand and engaging both customers and Land Rover staff.

The brand campaign launched earlier this summer with a minute-long film featuring people that demonstrate the “can and will spirit”. It was integrated across all Land Rover’s marketing activity this summer including its sponsorship of the Invictus Games as part of a media strategy created by Mindshare.

The campaign culminated in an evening at the Royal Geographical Society where five speakers spoke for 15 minutes to celebrate the spirit of “the bold, the brave and the audacious”. Speakers included Land Rover brand ambassadors Ranulph Fiennes and Mike Goody, who lost his leg in Afghanistan and has just won gold at the Invictus Games.

Speaking to Marketing Week at the event, Land Rover’s UK marketing director Laura Schwab says the aim of the campaign at launch was to celebrate “this moment”, namely the summer period and its partnership with Invictus. However, she says there is now an opportunity to extend the message beyond this summer as it looks to build on the engagement earnt through the campaign.

“I was thinking this campaign was based around this moment in the summer but actually there is an opportunity to take this further because the emotion continues. What’s been interesting about ‘can and will’ is it’s probably the best we’ve done at engaging our entire organisation. I’d hate to lose any of that so maybe there is a role for it again, we just need to figure out when,” she says.

Schwab says “Can and Will” has been one of its most successful campaigns to date because it was integrated across all its communications this summer, whether marketing, PR or at events such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed. She cites figures on boosts in engagement through Facebook and Twitter as well as visits to the dedicated website for the campaign.

She also credits the success of the campaign with its “perfect fit” with Land Rover’s “above and beyond” brand message. That is critical, she says, as Land Rover prepares to launch a range of new vehicles in the coming months starting with the new Discovery Sport.

“This was a change to witness people that actually go above and beyond in their everyday life. To really solidify that positioning and remind people what we stand for,” she adds.