Scion Strikes Creative Pose with Web-Only Reality Program
Car maker Scion has launched a Web-only reality series that will let some admittedly “non-car” creative types design and build their dream rides—on a Scion foundation, of course.
The six-episode series, “Reinvent The Wheels”, also offers the winner a $30,000 cash prize and is designed with the look and feel of reality TV but will only be seen on the microsite and on YouTube.
The 12-minute premiere episode, launched Monday on both sites, introduced both the six candidates (located after a talent search earlier this year by Scion agency ATTIK) and the three judges, experts from the worlds of fashion, movies and music production. The series is hosted by Angie Greenup, a stand-up comic who has worked on E!, Fearnet and Spike TV, and is produced by 3 Ball Productions, which also turns out NBC’s “Biggest Loser” and other reality shows.
The first episode reduced the number of contestants by half. The remaining shows, posted to the Web site and YouTube Monday nights at 9 p.m. EDT until early May, will show the three finalists working with their assigned car-production professionals to turn their high-flying car concepts into street reality. Each of the three “creatives” will get a $55,000 total budget to bring their ideas from the drawing board, and much of the drama will consist of seeing how the deal with the inevitable compromises they’ll face in doing that.
Scion intends the new brand campaign to extend its appeal for its core 18-to-24 demographic, one of the youngest in the car industry, says Katherine Stout, account director for ATTIK, the car maker’s agency of record.
“We were coming off a brand campaign, ‘Manifesto,’ that touted the lifestyle choices our audience makes, and we wanted to leverage that with a new campaign to keep Scion relevant with that audience,” she says. “It’s about authenticity, customization and community, and all three of those values led us to reality programming and using the Web. Scion has also supported emerging artists, and we wanted to find a way to include that.”
In addition to the microsite and YouTube, fans can also access and share the “Reinvent the Wheels” programming through a Facebook widget and on a WAP site optimized for mobile access, including the video.
“We’re always looking for new ways to spread Scion’s messages, and we know the target audience spends a great amount of time interacting online, sharing, socializing and watching. Developing an online reality show is a fresh approach to engaging and entertaining them, and also leverages social networking in igniting buzz.”
One interesting aspect about the series—at least in the single episode aired to date—is the relatively low level of branding both in the video content and on the microsite. In the video, almost the only way to tell that the car designs being presented are by Scion is the distinctive boxy shape of the sketches. And on the ReinventTheWheels.com site, Scion’s name only comes up in a list of multiple accessory sponsors and in the Web site footer. The Facebook app does offer links to Scion news.
“We wanted authenticity and thought that if people were reminded this was basically an ad, it wouldn’t be as compelling,” Stout says. “It wouldn’t be as genuine, and we wouldn’t have the same credibility. That’s very important to Scion.”
For that reason—downplaying the branded nature of the content—even the broadcast and print ads that ran as teasers for the show’s launch last Monday did not carry the Scion label. That will change after the final show airs online on May 3, Stout says, when branding will start to appear in those offline promotional channels.
