Land Rover hopes drivers will download app to share 'Undiscovered' Singapore

Client: Jaguar Land Rover Asia Pacific Importers

Agency: Y&R Singapore

Market: Singapore

Name of campaign: 52Undiscovered

Campaign scope: App for Android and iOS, Instagram hashtag and microsite promoting the Discovery Sport model 

Details: The brand hopes Singaporeans will upload photos of their weekend adventures using the app (the "52" in the name refers to the 52 weeks of the year and the 5+2 seating arrangement of the vehicle). The app also allows users to see the fun locations other users have highlighted, "enter a location and shake your phone to find a new discovery nearby" and save a list of places one intends to visit. Time Out Singapore is helping to promote the app by curating content around the topic and leading people to the app.

Press release quote:

Angela Ong, marketing director, Jaguar Land Rover Asia Pacific Importers:

We see the need to move to a mobile platform which is not only just another channel but also an integral aspect of our customer segment’s lifestyle. We wanted a campaign that could be enjoyed and put to use on a daily basis.

Campaign Asia Pacific's comments: At first we had a chuckle about the idea of finding off-road adventures or unexplored wilderness in Singapore. But the brand readily admits that because "there are limits to outdoor adventure" in the tiny country, it expects the app to be used to share info on new restaurants and shops.

What really concerns us is the somewhat delusional quote above, from the brand. The app is not connected to a contest, so we're hard-pressed to see why people would bother to download it, let alone become such regular users that it becomes part of their "lifestyle". Their phones already have numerous apps that provide ample ways to share information, photos and maps for interesting destinations. The app could become a useful aggregation of information if thousands of people started using it to tag fun places, but we just can't see that happening.  

Getting a download and a prominent space on the home screen is tough. If you're merely creating an app that allows people to do something they can already accomplish without your app, you've created an app few people will be bothered to use. At least not without a strong incentive...such as (spitballing here) the chance to win a new car?