From rock to pop to house to alternative, music has been a diverse and integral part of the historic advertising of Mitsubishi vehicles. And with Mitsubishi Motors North America (MMNA)’s recent move to Music City – Nashville, Tenn. – the three-diamond brand is doubling down on that strategy to introduce its all-new flagship vehicle. The company today announced plans linking the unmistakably bold 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander with the immediately recognizable strains of AC/DC’s iconic and edgy “Thunderstruck.”
“The all-new 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander is the most-connected, best-equipped vehicle we have ever sold in the U.S., and given how positively it’s already been received by members of the media, our dealer partners and consumers, it represents a huge opportunity to raise awareness and consideration for the Mitsubishi brand,” said MMNA senior manager of marketing, Kim Ito. “The Outlander takes its place at the head of the Mitsubishi Motors lineup. With a car that stands out from the crowd the way this one does, we knew we needed a soundtrack that would help it be just as memorable and stand out in the crowded field of advertising.”
Mitsubishi Motors’ new “Thunderstruck” campaign was created by Unite Digital in collaboration with The Sussman Agency in Detroit, the same agency that created the “Take Me Out” campaign for the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross earlier this year, featuring the song by the same name from Franz Ferdinand. The agency worked in close collaboration with MMNA and its National Advisory Board dealer partners, ensuring a cohesive and memorable set of creative deliverables that differentiates the brand for a national audience, while providing an aligned and targeted platform for locally customized executions.
Key to the success of the campaign is a Mitsubishi Motors first-in-the-industry process, also developed in partnership with Unite Digital, whereby each of the company’s approximately 330 dealer partners have the ability to directly personalize and customize the national advertisement for their local use. By combining the production of so-called Tier 1 and Tier 3 advertisements together, MMNA is able to ensure consistent quality and production value, while its dealer partners are able to share information and offers with their local and regional customers. This has never been done before in the auto industry, and allows unprecedented value for dealers and a consistent creative through-line across all levels of advertising.
Directed by creative veteran Susan Stallings, the high-energy spot is characterized by synchronized sound and lighting, taking inspiration from the response the Outlander consistently evokes when people experience it in person.
“Beyond AC/DC’s rock star street cred, ‘Thunderstruck’ perfectly describes the way the whole creative team felt the first time we saw the Outlander,” said Stallings, Sussman’s senior vice president and creative director. “People first say ‘Wow! What is that?’ and then they immediately say, ‘That’s the new Mitsubishi?’ We wanted to capture that feeling when a new car makes you stop in your tracks and just stare in amazement.”
From the beginning, Mitsubishi’s marketing for the all-new Outlander has been disruptive and bold. It was the first vehicle ever to be revealed to a global audience via Amazon Live, and it has already set high watermarks for Google search, website traffic, retail closing rates and model sales, attracting a whole new customer to Mitsubishi Motors. Closely aligned across national and retail-level creative, the campaign will include broadcast and digital activations, an extension of the Amazon partnership, and sales event heavy-ups backed by Mitsubishi’s largest marketing investment in recent years.
The all-new Outlander, which launched to rave reviews from media and consumers, was recently named a Top Safety Pick+ by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and offers an impressive array of standard and available advanced driver assistance systems to increase driver convenience, confidence and safety. The vehicle also was just announced as a winner of the Wards 10 Best Interiors award, calling out the quality and style that sets Outlander apart. All models offer standard three rows of seating – the only vehicle in the segment to do so – and the vehicle is available with the company’s unique motorsport-developed Super All-Wheel Control all-wheel-drive system.
