Making DTC Car Buying Feel Good
As Head of Brand & Engagement at heycar, I led the development and launch of the "Feel Good Your Way" campaign - a bold new creative platform designed to support the brand’s expansion into direct-to-consumer e-commerce. Our objective was to position heycar as a modern, flexible car-buying solution that empowers customers to purchase their next vehicle either online with home delivery or through a trusted dealer network.
This integrated campaign not only drove a 13% uplift brand awareness but also reinforced heycar’s commitment to making car buying a feel-good experience - whether online or in person.
Using music to be memorable
Collaborating with Atomic London, we reimagined Naughty by Nature’s classic "Hip Hop Hooray" into a catchy brand anthem, using the repeated "heycar" hook to drive memorability and brand recall. The campaign launched across TV, BVOD, radio, social media, digital, podcast, sponsorship and out-of-home channels, delivering a high-energy, music-led message that celebrated the joy of buying a car on your own terms.
Extending the campaign
To extend the Feel Good Your Way campaign, we tapped into audience insights that showed a strong passion for cinema, comedy, and live experiences; making our feel-good brand platform a natural fit for experiential activations.
Working closely with my in-house creative team and an agile brand agency, we delivered a Summer of Feel Good - a series of events and sponsorships that brought the campaign to life in culturally relevant moments. A standout activation was our presence at Goodwood Festival of Speed, where we partnered with EA Sports in a value-in-kind deal to create an epic SIM racing experience that drew huge crowds and reinforced heycar’s connection to innovation and entertainment. These extensions helped embed our brand in the spaces our audience already loved - boosting awareness by 5%, affinity to the brand by 27%, and driving record engagement rate growth of over 170%.
