Adwatch: Porsche's Boxster Road Trip shows how NOT to run a digital campaign

I’ve been an outspoken critic of brands who boast about the size of their fan base. Of course, it’s an understandable temptation, especially if you allow yourself to be influenced by the vernacular of a Facebook ‘Like’. But what use is a follower, if they don’t then engage with a brand in a way that translates into commercial value?

When Porsche reached one million fans on its Facebook page, the German sports car maker decided to celebrate the occasion by thanking each and every one of its fans – body-wrapping a 911 GT3R Hybrid with their names.

The milestone was doubly significant for Porsche, since it became the automotive brand to reach 1,000,000 Facebook fans.

That was November 2010, 18 months later and that number is up to 4.1 million.

In a recent article on Bloomberg Businessweek, Mark Risher, CEO of anti-spam software company, Impermium, claimed that 40 percent of the accounts on social-media sites are spam and although Facebook and Twitter are working hard to reduce the flotsam, the message is clear – marketers would be better advised to focus on ‘yield’ rather counting inventory.

Or to put it more succinctly, “Size isn’t everything – it’s what you do with it that counts.”

A case in point is Porsche Cars North America’s latest campaign for the new Boxster – ‘The Spirited Escape Road Trip‘ – produced in partnership with Men’s Journal magazine.

The campaign has been designed to raise awareness of the new 2013 Boxster and its day-to-day usability, through a process of experiential marketing.

The Spirited Escape Road Trip, hosted by Dhani Jones – former NFL Linebacker and host of Travel Channel’s “Dhani Tackles the Globe”, follows his journey in a Porsche Boxster S from New York City on 4th June, ending up at the Porsche Sport Driving School in Alabama on June 11th.

Fans were able to follow the journey via the microsite at http://escape.porsche.com, on Twitter at #BoxsterRoadTrip and on Porsche’s YouTube channel.

Despite the road trip being promoted as a joint campaign between Porsche and Men’s Journal magazine, I couldn’t find any mention of it on the magazine’s website, so we must assume Porsche had creative control of the full campaign.

Chris McLoughlin, publisher at Men’s Journal, said in a recent interview in The New York Times, “We think of this as a different way to work with advertisers, helping brands stand out amid a clogged freeway of marketing.”

In the same New York Times article, Scott Baker, manager for marketing communications at Porsche Cars in Atlanta was quoted saying, “This is the first time we’ve done something like this..” He added. “We wanted to work with a partner to make it not just a road trip, but a Porsche road trip.”

During the course of the trip Porsche produced a series of 10 videos, ranging in duration from 27 to 84 seconds. (click on an image below to launch each video).