The British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA) has rolled out its own car-sharing service with an advertising campaign highlighting its roomier Toyota Prius hybrid vehicles, which can cram in more people and things than its compact-car competitors.
With its Evo brand, which is meant to represent its tagline as “The Evolution of Car Sharing in B.C.,” the BCAA is targeting millennials who can’t afford to own vehicles and are turning to car-sharing services to get out and about.
The Evo fleet, which has been popping around Vancouver in recent weeks, is all black with a bright blue brand signature. Karacters Design Group named and created the Evo brand, came up with the black and blue colour palette and developed the identity that is used across the brand’s communication strategy.
The BCAA, a well-known auto, travel and home insurer in B.C., worked with DDB Canada to launch the brand, highlighting the four-door vehicles as having more space, which will in turn allow its users more experiences. They also come with bright blue bike and ski racks to “accommodate the social and active lifestyles of British Columbians.”
Evo has a fleet of about 250 cars, and covers about a 50-square-kilometre area in the City of Vancouver.
“We wanted to create a product that’s different and fit a need in the marketplace, and we feel we’ve done that with the size and type of vehicle,” said Grant Stockwell, BCAA’s associate vice president of marketing.
He said Evo also signals the evolution of BCAA, as it works to become more relevant to its membership base.
“We took a lot of care building out the product and developing our marketing strategies and creative,” Stockwell said. “It’s both a fresh look and approach for BCAA, and somewhat unexpected which is what we wanted.”
BCAA also recently launched a “membership is rewarding” campaign to better position itself as a rewards company, as well as an insurance provider.
Dean Lee, executive creative director at DDB Canada Vancouver, said the Evo campaign was a rare opportunity for the agency to build a brand from scratch.
“Evo is portrayed as the hero in each spot, rather than a prop, and the tone is quirky yet approachable, to further differentiate the brand and establish a pole position in the car share market,” he said in a release.
The campaign was launched with a pop-up festival at the Vancouver Art Gallery in late March, before being rolled out across various channels. The campaign includes TV and cinema spots called “Let’s Play” and “Let’s Watch,” as well as outdoor and print. The media buying and planning was coordinated by OMD Vancouver. Stockwell said it also includes a heavy digital and social advertising component, given the millennial target audience.
The Evo.ca website promoting the program, its fees and how it works, was designed by Tribal Worldwide in Vancouver.
