This is the story of how, over a three-and-half year period, Mercedes-Benz went from being the ‘stuffy’ choice compared with Audi and BMW, to being the fastest-growing car brand in the prestige sector.

In 2010 Mercedes-Benz UK announced an audacious three-year target: to break through the 100,000 annual sales milestone. A considerable challenge given that the current level was 75,000 per year and growth was static. It was clear we’d need to do things differently.

Looking in the rear view mirror we noticed that the brand’s historic advertising had been exacerbating an age old image problem. A problem that was preventing us from competing head-on with Audi and BMW.

Instead of developing a particular new advertising idea or evolving a certain art direction, we changed the brand’s entire behaviour. Behaviour that would represent a more open (and less stuffy) position for the brand to take, putting the focus on the experience of Mercedes that people would be given, rather than a message. And it would mean embracing a range of interactive channels that would shape the brand’s campaigns in unexpected ways.

The paper outlines three of the biggest campaigns that took place during the three year period. The first, Escape the Map, was a virtual driving experience played out over multiple channels of interaction. In the following year, YouDrive was the world’s first interactive driving experience where a television audience could influence a commercial in real time via a digital social platform. Finally, Sound with Power used biometric testing to demonstrate how powerful sounds can trigger emotions.

With annual sales up 45% to more than108,000 per year - and brand tracking figures reaching record heights - this paper explains how a change in ‘brand body language’ has made Mercedes unprecedentedly dynamic, exciting and profitable.

The result? An ROMI of 1.11:1. And a brand fit to make considerable further gains.