About the client
An importer and distributor of a Chinese automotive brand entering the mass segment: the goal is not logo awareness alone but real visits to dealerships for test drives. People rarely book a salon visit from one banner; they compare trims, read reviews, and watch “live” walkarounds.
GUGA MEDIA was tasked with a measurable flow of qualified applications at a clear CPL without relying entirely on expensive TV or pure search. The conversion event was a unified booking form tied to a dealer with CRM confirmation.
Strategy and tools
The campaign centred on YouTube automotive reviewers at mid and large scale: test-drive format, interior walkthrough, comparison with familiar models on the market. That content answers typical buyer questions before the showroom visit and reduces “just browsing” traffic.
We segmented creators by regions where dealers operate — no point pushing traffic from cities without service support. Each region had its own channel set and UTMs. Integrations combined a full review plus a short segment in the same author’s news-style upload to re-touch the audience.
Tone was aligned with the brand: facts (warranty, equipment, cost of ownership) without toxic competitor bashing — reducing takedown risk and comment toxicity. CTAs pointed to a booking landing with dealer and slot selection.
Challenges and fixes
The main barrier was audience prejudice about brand origin. We leaned on honest comparisons, real mileage on test drives, and owner interviews where the brief allowed. Logistics were tight: not every dealer could supply the right trim on time — we pre-booked vehicles and shoot routes.
Noisy leads were another issue — applications for giveaways or curiosity. We tightened the form (mandatory dealer and time slot) and verified via the call centre. CPL reporting included only confirmed bookings.
Results in detail
We collected 850 confirmed test drives at CPL 1,200₽. Combined views on integrations and supporting uploads exceeded 4.5 million; retention on long reviews beat vertical averages, signalling strong author fit.
Regional splits paid off: in highly competitive cities CPL was higher but test-drive-to-deal conversion was stronger, balancing economics. Best results came from reviewers with an “independent test” reputation rather than purely promotional reads.
The client received a heatmap by dealer and guidance on which trims sparked interest post-view — useful for product marketing and stock planning. The next phase adds Shorts as a follow-up to long reviews with the same USPs.
Operationally, agency–creator–dealer SLAs on response time mattered: without fast follow-up, expensive YouTube traffic would diverge “booked” vs “showed up.”
We tested integration length: 12–15 minute segments inside regular episodes balanced retention and contact cost better than standalone ad reads — viewers treated them as native content and skipped less in the opening seconds.
Dealer feedback surfaced top post-view questions; we fed that back to authors for later uploads — closing the loop from content to lead to showroom to creative insight.
The next-quarter plan included a premium trim track: smaller audience but higher deal size, with creators focused on tech and comfort rather than only “affordable cars” so mass positioning stayed clean.
Finally, honest brand and model mentions in the first characters of titles improved CTR from search and recommendations, extending integration life beyond the paid flight — now part of GUGA MEDIA’s standard YouTube auto brief.