Mercedes-Benz is to combine its online activities, developing the international website www.mercedes-benz.com into a digital brand magazine. From March 2012 the contents of the brand platforms Mercedes-Benz TV, Mercedes Magazine Online, Mercedes-Benz Reporter and the Fashion and Golf website are to be integrated here. The user-friendly premium magazine offers editorially prepared contents and aesthetic images. It thus enables surprising insights into the many facets of the world of Mercedes-Benz. As digital heart of the brand, this website is also optimised for tablet PCs.
“With the further development of our website into a central, advanced brand magazine, we can bring together contents from the Mercedes-Benz world and thus provide a clear orientation for the user”, says Anders Sundt Jensen, Director of Brand Communication, Mercedes-Benz Cars. “The focus will be on its character as a magazine. We place a premium on an emotionally-appealing presentation of contents, which are furthermore continuously updated. With this, we transcend by far conventional international corporate websites, offering visitors unique possibilities to experience the Mercedes-Benz brand in digital form.”
A modern information architecture and an innovative concept
The new brand magazine is characterised by its modern information architecture, the innovative data visualisation it features as well as further highlights – for example, an incremental search function with image results. The high-quality contents are presented in seven editorial departments: Vehicles, Innovation, Design, Sport, History, Fashion and Zeitgeist, the spirit of the time. Through the full integration of the heretofore separate Mercedes-Benz TV video channel it offers – in addition to articles, photo galleries, reports and interviews – a great amount of video material, too. The video contents from all editorial departments can be also accessed under the heading “TV”. Navigation is extremely user-friendly: vertically on the menu point level and horizontally in the articles. This makes the digital premium magazine compatible for use with tablet PCs. An innovative gallery mode offers the possibility to switch the entire website to an explorative navigation.
Together with the new digital www.mercedes-benz.com brand magazine, Mercedes-Benz will offer three strategic online brand platforms in future. The two platforms established last year: the magazine “mb! by Mercedes-Benz” (www.mercedes-benz.com/mb) and the interview magazine “The Avant/Garde Diaries” (www.theavantgardediaries.com), will remain as independent formats to address new and young target groups in particular. A selection of their contents will also be published at www.mercedes-benz.com in the division “Zeitgeist”. The music download platform “Mercedes-Benz Mixed Tape” has been integrated in the mb! magazine.
Design re-brush of the international product sites
In the framework of the brand opening to new target groups, Mercedes-Benz has re-worked the design of its web appearance in 97 markets. From March on, 97 markets will appear successively in a new, modern look and feel with optimised user guidance. The homepage will show topical subjects with a clear layout and integrating links to social media such as Twitter und Facebook. Interaction elements will be highlighted and the most used entry links reorganised in the interests of simpler navigation. With this re-brush Mercedes-Benz transfers the fascination of its products to the country-specific websites, making them even more up-to-date, more informative and with greater emotive appeal.
Following on from the unusual "A-Class QR Trophy" campaign, Mercedes-Benz is now kicking off the second phase of the digital communication offensive for the new A-Class. To tie in with the world premiere in Geneva on 5 March 2012, the Stuttgart-based automobile brand is launching a central, interactive online platform which will pool all communications activities worldwide for the new A-Class. In the launch phase the online hub is offering a special at www.mercedes-benz.com/a-class which not only enables users to discover the highlights of the new compact model in interactive mode but will also showcase the appearance at the motor show live. The online platform is also optimised for smartphones and tablets.
"Apart from chiming in with the needs and expectations of younger target groups, the digital offensive for the new A-Class is a demonstration of Mercedes-Benz's sustained commitment to providing the user with innovative multimedia experiences on any device of their choice, in keeping with our brand claim, 'The best or nothing', says Anders Sundt Jensen, Vice President Brand Communications Mercedes-Benz Cars.
Apart from following the press conference at the world premiere in Geneva from home via a live stream, during the appearance at the fair from 9 to 14 March users will also be able to view the new A-Class from different perspectives by interactive means and to share their first impressions with friends and visitors to the motor show. Their comments will be posted directly on an LED screen at the exhibition stand and on the internet platform. Up to five cameras will broadcast live images of the new Mercedes compact model non-stop via the internet. On tablet PCs, visitors to the motor show who obstruct the view of the A-Class can simply be "wiped away" via a so-called “private mode” function.
So-called "A Guides", presenters on the booth, will broaden the scope of visual functions available to online visitors. With iPads which incorporate an integrated camera they will offer individual close-ups of the new A Class's exterior or interior and enter into dialogue with internet users. The visitors at the exhibition stand will be interviewed by the "A Guides" and their statements will be posted on the internet. A camera crew will accompany the "A Guide" team, also streaming live on www.mercedes-benz.com/a-class.
The international online platform is the core element of the launch campaign and will successively incorporate additional information and campaigns up to the market launch of the new A-Class in September 2012. Parallel to the Geneva launch users can also experience the product highlights and equipment of the new A-class in a new manner.
Jung von Matt/Alster and Jung von Matt/next are responsible for developing and implementing the international market launch campaign, including the digital measures. Scholz & Volkmer is attending to digital realisation of the live coverage from the exhibition stand.
Mercedes-Benz is making smartphones mobile and ensuring that such electronic assistants will in future be fully linked into the car's infotainment system. First off the blocks is the Apple® iPhone®, which Mercedes-Benz has now integrated comprehensively into the user experience concept of the new A-Class, as the first automotive manufacturer in the world to take this step. Thanks to a new "Digital DriveStyle App", developed in-house, together with the „Drive Kit Plus for the Apple® iPhone®“, drivers can now access all the key content of their Apple® iPhone® through the in-vehicle display and enjoy safe and convenient operation of the device via the Controller on the center armrest. The attractive 'look' is ensured by the revolutionary user interface design. In a further world premiere, Mercedes-Benz will enable access to the voice-based intelligent companion Siri™ in the vehicle. This allows natural speech input, without the need for specific commands, to send messages, select music tracks and check the weather forecast or stock prices, as well as to make appointments. All the iPhone® integration functions can be used even with the entry-level Audio 20 system.
This seamless integration of the Apple® iPhone® into the vehicle, in conjunction with the new revolutionary user interface design, means that Mercedes-Benz is now able to offer the Facebook generation its natural home on four wheels, in the form of the new A-Class. Along with Facebook, Twitter and so on, the "Digital DriveStyle App" developed by Daimler offers further services and content to suit the digital lifestyle and will be available to download free of charge from the Apple® iTunes® store. Its highlights include:
- Personalised internet radio by AUPEO! Personal Radio, which offers radio stations that compile an individual program for listeners and recommend similar music by genre or artists based on personal taste.
- The advanced navigation software from Garmin, with internet-based real-time traffic information, online POI searches and 3D map display, all of which work even in combination with the entry-level multimedia system Audio 20
- A socially interactive experience involving "sharing", "posting" and the integration of music and other content from social networks including text-to-speech.
- An intuitive 'Car Finder' which automatically stores the vehicle's location. Pedestrian navigation makes it completely easy to find your way back to the car.
- Access to the voice-based intelligent companion Siri™.
New here is also the contextual and location-based display of menu content under the headings "Social", "Media" and "Places". The basic logic behind this was presented by Daimler for the first time in January of this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Appearing under the heading "Social", for example, are the various friends and latest news from the social networks.
The user interface design is unique and revolutionary. Transparent symbols are illuminated in red to create three-dimensionally arranged navigation levels. Within the three-dimensional illustration provided by this menu structure, the user can move intuitively between the various functions in fluid, animated transitions. The user interface concept was designed and implemented by designers and engineers in the Mercedes-Benz research and development center in Palo Alto, California/USA. Enlarging the display of content on the screen to an appropriate format for use in a vehicle and allowing it to be controlled through the ergonomically positioned Controller on the center armrest makes operating the system both safe and easy.
The iPhone® is connected through an interface developed by Mercedes-Benz Accessories GmbH. This allows content to be fed directly from the graphics output of the device to the display of the vehicle. At the same time, the iPhone® is both powered and charged automatically while it is being used.
Full iPhone® integration is not only possible in conjunction with the COMAND Online multimedia system. All functions, including navigation, can also be used even with the entry-level Audio 20 system. Mercedes-Benz is thus making it possible for the A-Class's younger target group in particular to continue their digital lifestyle seamlessly inside the vehicle. Both the "Digital DriveStyle App" and the "Drive Kit Plus for the Apple® iPhone®" will be making their debut in the new A-Class, which will be celebrating its world premiere at this year's Geneva Motor Show, and are also planned to be available from autumn 2012 for the B-, C- and E-Class.
Always at your service: the voice-based intelligent companion Siri™
As the first automotive manufacturer to do so, Mercedes-Benz will be introducing Siri™ in a vehicle with easy access to it from the “Digital DriveStyle App”. While conventional voice recognition software demands the use of specific spoken commands, Siri™ understands natural speech patterns and will even ask questions in return should more information be needed in order to complete a given task.
Siri™ is a function of the latest iPhone® generation, 4S, and acts as a personal assistant. Given verbal instructions, for example, it will access the personal calendar to make or decline requests for appointments or meetings. SMS text messages can be dictated or read out, and emails sent. Siri™ can also be used as a convenient way of accessing the complete range of music stored on an iPhone® or to request the latest weather forecast.
Always up-to-date: COMAND Online with Cloud technology and Mercedes-Benz App Shop Safe and convenient access to the internet on the move is already available in a whole series of Mercedes-Benz models: the fully integrated multimedia system COMAND Online was introduced in 2011. As well as innovative applications such as Google Local Search including Google Street View and Panoramio, Mercedes-Benz is the only manufacturer to offer the option of sending individually preconfigured routes from Google Maps on a PC to the vehicle. The internet connection that is required for the functions in COMAND Online is established via a mobile telephone Bluetooth link and a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN).
Mercedes-Benz is firmly convinced that the future lies with cloud computing. The software used in the COMAND Online applications is not stored in the vehicle, but runs off the Daimler Vehicle Backend. The advantage of this is that applications can be continually updated in the cloud, and new applications released to Mercedes-Benz customers, without the need to visit a workshop.
In this sense on March 31st, 2012 a new Mercedes-Benz App to access News will be available to COMAND Online customers.
Additionally, Mercedes-Benz Apps for COMAND Online will be offered soon in the new Mercedes-Benz App Shop. The first two Mercedes-Benz Apps to become available in the App Shop will be the Parking Finder and Morningstar Finance, that offers access to stock prices.
It is planned to introduce a dozen or so new applications each year. To this end, Daimler has set up App Development Groups in both Palo Alto, California/USA, and Bangalore, India.
Mercedes-Benz launches hunt for the QR-code A-Class prototypes
They are hunted by the automotive press, followed by auto enthusiasts around the world and now you can win with them: the test prototypes of Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz launches an unusual and innovative campaign of digital communication for the new A-Class. Instead of the usual camouflage patterns seen so far, prototypes of the new A-Class used in Germany will be plastered all over with QR codes by the end of February. Whether on streets or in pictures, in the media or on the internet, car passionates can scan the codes and win an exclusive trip for two to the world premiere of the new A-Class in early March at Geneva. From the first week of next month, the free app "The A-Class QR-Trophy" for smartphones will be available for download from the Apple App Store and Android Market. A special webpage dedicated to this game is already available at http://qr-trophy.mercedes-benz.com/ (available in German only, at the moment). Mercedes-Benz' marketing/PR agency Jung von Matt / Alster directed the idea and the implementation of this special contest.
Scanning the QR code on a prototype - regardless of whether on the street, in the media or photos on Facebook, Twitter etc. - automatically creates a URL to access the mobile app. By registrating with the app you have the opportunity to participate in the competition. Various, so-called "badges" (character recognition) are hidden behind the QR codes and thus can be collected within the app.
Altogether there are four different badges. Three of them are turned over to scan the QR code, the fourth will be activated via sharing on social media platforms, and thus requires no QR code. Even with a badge, users can participate in the contest. Each one is valuable and further increases the chance of winning, as the user takes part with any of the four badges in the game.
After the new SL-Class was launched, the team behind BenzBoost got busy with some pictures of it. The reason? They digitally imagined how the new SL 63 AMG sports roadster could look like when it's premiered during summer 2012. And the final result is pretty nice, we have to recognize. To ensure diversity and choice, the photoshopped model comes in various exterior paint jobs, such as deep blue and fire red. Hit the jump button and choose the one that best suits your tastes! Enjoy!
