Connected Vehicles: Differentiation

Digital has invaded the vehicle space. WiFi on board, online services by subscription, driving assistance. Can this communication emphasis on vehicle connection create differentiation?

The vehicle’s interior becomes a new home: it is therefore hyper-connected. In recent months, there has been an increase in campaigns highlighting the connection exclusively, in a generic and minimalist way or in a very specific way with advanced functionalities.
When technology becomes the center of the message, to the detriment of consumer centrality and brand specificity: demonstration.

The film about the lastOpen Corsais centered on the presence of a WiFi hotspot on board. Other brand communications develop the services of the General Motors Onstar system (navigation, security, remote diagnostics, SOS, etc.).

In this film, a young man in gallant company in his old car parked in front of a park indicates that his vehicle has a WiFi hotspot, surprised the young woman asks him for the access code. This code ends up being indicated by friends of the young man who are right next door, in a C3, which is the vehicle actually equipped with this hotspot.

Communicating the newsCitroën C3, features the ConnectedCam system which allows photos to be taken and transmitted online.

A man at the wheel of his C3 activates the ConnectedCan which is located next to his rear-view mirror and takes photos of the landscape or large letters that are on his path and ends up composing a message which he transmits to his bride: "Marry Me"?

The latest campaign forVolkswagen Tiguanbases its scenario around the use of the Car-Net system (remote diagnosis, route planning, etc.).
A man is behind the wheel of his vehicle and follows the route indicated to him by his GPS. This GPS is in fact controlled remotely by his wife who therefore has control over a route that the driver discovers as he goes. This route is punctuated by shops where this young man must finally buy her gifts. The film ends at a restaurant table where the young woman retrieves the key to the vehicle and prepares to discover the trip that her loved one is going to prepare for her.

A common point of these communications: the vehicle is present but almost in the background compared to its connected electronics which is the one and only subject of emphasis and instrument of fun creative avenues.

In fact, the differentiating factor becomes more difficult to find in these communications, because the functionalities offered by the connected car are relatively similar. Only the creative approach evolves in these communications - and then again. The creative approach uses humor or emotion, two registers already widely used, which, in the same way, also do not constitute factors that allow each of these communications to clearly distinguish its difference.

One of the risks of these communications is to enter through the “back door”, to target functional characteristics without highlighting from a consumer point of view an experiential dimension that is nevertheless key in the automotive world. We are moving away from the automotive category, because message processing is borrowed from home automation.But above all, unfortunately, without taking advantage of the rough edges specific to the brand territories of each of these manufacturers.The words “It’s more than just a connected car» of the new Tiguan, which concludes a film focused solely on the connection, illustrates this difficulty and this paradox well, a bit as if the entirety of an Apple film for a new iPhone focused on iOS and the signature was..."It's more than just an OS".
It would probably be useful to better anchor the product benefits of the connected car by opening up the reference to connection and reinscribing it in the values ​​specific to each of the brands (which would make each of these films intrinsically Citroën, Volkswagen or Opel).