• by Tanya Gazdik , September 6, 2016

Acura is launching a campaign for its 2017 MDX luxury SUV that shows how the vehicle is “designed to wow.” 

The campaign, from MullenLowe, Los Angeles, employs a new approach for Acura, providing custom-tailored communication to specific audiences based on their primary purchase motivations, says Ed Beadle, senior manager, Acura integrated marketing.

“We will simultaneously target the specific audiences across digital, social, and addressable TV,” Beadle tells Marketing Daily. 

For example, young affluent families that value seating and safety above other purchase motivators will sequentially receive MDX information specific to those drivers. This targeted approach will also extend to social efforts surrounding the MDX. 

Acura will reach key customer segments using Facebook's Canvas unit. Instagram also will be used to deliver targeted photo and video content, which will be specifically edited and optimized for the platform. The same customer segments will extend to addressable TV, allowing Acura to deliver another level of targeted messaging on a household-by-household level. 

The campaign is geared toward reaching families with emotional drivers that include performance, safety and design, he says. 

“The creative also connects Acura’s Precision Crafted Performance brand direction and the next-generation NSX supercar to the new MDX,” Beadle says.

The campaign is led by the new “Anthem” TV spot, set to Beck’s kaleidoscopic psych-hip hop anthem, “Wow.” TV and digital executions showcase AcuraWatch suite of safety and driver-assistive technologies, now standard on all 2017 MDX models.

The music-driven spot expresses Acura’s Precision Crafted Performance brand direction through the use of vivid colors, and generates excitement and enthusiasm through high-energy music. 

“Focus” incorporates one of the MDX’s most important standard safety features -- AcuraWatch -- into the film with a moving representation of the benefits of the SUV’s Collision Mitigation Braking System  in an everyday driving scenario involving a father and son. 

In “Wake,” the 2017 Acura MDX is driven through the California desert to show the SUV’s power and precise handling. And after a day spent kicking up the sand, the MDX gets cleaned-up in a way that’s as epic as the driving in the spot —a plane swoops in and drops water on the SUV while it speeds down a highway for a high-performance wash that leaves the MDX showcasing its glistening, upgraded exterior.

Spots will air throughout September and October on network primetime programming on NBC, built atop of a foundation of cable, late night and online video executions. To round out this high-profile video support, MDX spots will be featured on CBS NFL games for the majority of the season. In addition to general market support, the launch also will include Hispanic ads airing in select markets.