How we increased engagement by 4000% in 48 hours. Pivot, engage!

Objective

Increase social engagement whilst staying on brand and local.

Understanding the Problem

We audited CCS BMW's entire content output before touching a camera. Every single piece was selling, every post lived at the bottom of the funnel, "book a test drive," "explore the range," "new arrivals now available." The content was beautifully produced. It was also being completely ignored.

The feed looked like a digital showroom brochure. Polished, safe, and speaking only to people who were already in the market. For the 98% of their audience who weren't actively buying a car that week, there was zero reason to stop, watch, or engage. No personality, no room for conversation, no human element. Just beautiful metal, 4 wheels and price points.

The problem wasn't that CCS BMW was creating bad content, the problem was that they were creating the wrong content for the platform. What works on a showroom screen doesn't work in someone's Instagram feed between a friend's holiday photo and a cooking reel. The content was built for attention that was already captured, not for attention that needed to be earned.

And here's the thing most brands miss: you can't ask someone to buy from you when they don't know who you are yet, especially in a dealership world where your competitor is literally down the road. Bottom of funnel only works when there's a top and middle. CCS BMW had been trying to close without ever opening the conversation.

Strategy and Action

We didn't change BMW's identity. We changed how they showed up.

The strategy was built around one principle: earn the scroll-stop before you earn the sale. We needed content that felt native to the platform, some relatable, some unique, some brand building, some entertainment, some both! We understand that sales matter, this isn't just pretty colours, so we used a mix of content psychology and TRUECUT creativity to connect with the right people whilst seeking virality.

For example, the 1 series reel started clearly on the North Shore beach (NZ) local to the dealership (relatability to the viewer). To hook the viewer we used one of our formulas (contrast effect), we asked the salesman to contrast the fast scrolling world. We told him to do the intro really, really fast, "I'mVictorFromContinentalCarsBMW&ThisIsTheNew1Series… Was that fast enough?", scroller, hooked. Then concentrating on the psychology of the camera movements we used a punch zoom out right before "Was that fast enough?", a script hook matched with a visual one, easier to lead the viewer to see the new 1 series through interesting angles and keeping the brand feeling of quality.

We studied what was actually performing in the automotive space on Instagram. Not from other dealerships, but from the actual BMW drivers. Most make the mistake of trying to copy others in their own field, they forget that the end customer is all that matters, they're who you relate to and represent. And most the time, your peers in the industry are making the same content mistakes, so this is your best opportunity to stand out instead of copying. The research lead us to a simple place, the brands winning on social weren't the ones with the best production, they were the ones giving a feeling, exactly what content is about.

Example 2, the "POV trend". Seeing BMW drivers themselves take great pride in their cars, some would even describe it as a cult, (I guess every kid who put McDonalds trays on their rear wheels in a car park dreamed of owning an M3 competition). Playing into this relatability we created a reel based on the POV of parking your BMW. Starting with a vertically filmed shot of the salesman parking the car, text on the screen stating "POV: You drive a BMW" to keep the viewer in suspense until they feel the relatability they're seeking. We cut to a shot outside the parked car facing the salesman walking away, but turning around every few steps to admire the BMW, not wanting to leave it, and taking photos as they walk away. That appreciation is the reliability. The salesman parking the car at the dealership is the easy tie-in here to it being dealership content, it shows that CCS have a human side and they understand their customer. You could argue it could drive even more engagement if the salesman was wrapped up as a regular customer and parking in a shopping mall, but then it wouldn't as easily communicate to a viewer where the foundations of this content is coming from. At the end of the day It is about speaking to the right people to show that link between CCS & their customers, building the right community.

We built five social first reels. Each one was designed to lead with relatability, a moment, a feeling, a scenario that BMW's audience would recognise, and let the brand sit naturally inside that context rather than forcing itself to the front by selling. BMW was always present, It just wasn't the headline shoved in your face at all times, the human experience was.

Every piece was produced in-house. All strategy through to execution. No stock footage, no outsourced editing, no templated formats. We shot it, we directed it, we edited it.

Deliverables

5 Social first reels

Result

4,000% engagement increase in 48 hours. Not over a campaign, nor a quarter, 2 days. Are we boasting? Yes. Are we proud? Yes. Is this our job? I'll let you guess the next word. It proved that a premium automotive brand can win on social without having to do a TikTok dance. (We couldn't quite convince the sales team)… maybe if we're desperate for views.