Carmax Campaign Creative Brief

In my campaigns class (Completeness), I was in a team of seven students, including myself. Out of these seven, I was the only strategic student, therefore, the only one who had even seen a creative brief before this class. I worked on this alone a lot of the time, but I will say that our team, Team Delta, was awesome at letting the lines blur between strategic and creative. We all took suggestions and critiques from each other, even though we all had different specialties. In saying this, I want to make it clear that everything that came out of this campaign (and our UNOS campaign) was a team effort.

Carmax

Big Idea:
Evolving Carmax from a used-car superstore to a car brand.

Message:
Carmax is the car brand that focuses on what you value no matter what that may be.

Why believe it?
The message will be in every touchpoint. It will be told to the consumer by a trustworthy guy, the Carmax community leader, Max. The consumers will have first-hand knowledge of the message through their Carmax community, whether online or through another avenue such as local repair shops instead of going to the larger dealerships. The consumer will see new touch-points with the company, some physical, which will generate new feelings toward the brand. These touch-points will be a new website, featuring Max and the online community. Other touch-points will be traditional media - TV and print.

Why advertise?
There will be a focus on the less tangible sense of value - a sense of trust, security - rather than the tangibles of value - price, service plans, inspections. In this sense, we are creating a new feeling about the brand, while letting consumers know that Carmax is the same as it’s always been - non-gimmicky, sturdy and reliable.
We are advertising to combat the feeling of negativity toward the used-car industry as a whole. Advertising in this manner will set Carmax apart from used-car superstore and make Carmax recognized as a car brand. Carmax consumers will say “I bought a Carmax car” instead of “I bought a Nissan at Carmax”. By being part of a Carmax community, brand loyalty will be established.

Context:
Aside from traditional media avenues, Carmax consumers need to feel as if they are part of the Carmax family. They will be embraced into the Carmax community and feel as if the community is focused on exactly what it is that they value, rather than simply focusing on ‘value’. Carmax consumers will feel as if they are a part of something bigger than themselves; they will have a sense of belonging.