BMF has done the extraordinary – given a car website an endearing personality.  Carsales has undergone a brand repositioning to underline that it loves cars – shamelessly so – and has the car expertise on which people can rely. The platform, Everything You Auto Know is being introduced with 60-seconds of car love, told in the most striking way.

The TVC, Grandma’s Hands is running nationally in Australia.

“While carsales is known for buying and selling cars, it’s their deep knowledge of all things automotive that stands them apart. This campaign positions them as the one-stop shop for all your auto questions. Solving your worries so you’re free to enjoy the upside of car ownership. Like airsurfing to a classic Bill Withers track,” said BMF creative director, Douglas Hamilton.

The concept for the Grandma’s Hands ad was essentially born out of the original Bill Withers track – iconic, memorable and soulful. The choice of music was key in establishing the feeling state and emotion of the ad.

“With our category expertise, product innovation and brand trust, carsales is uniquely placed to empower Australians to have a positive experience when buying, selling and owning a car,” stated carsales chief marketing officer, Kellie Cordner.  “We are acutely aware of the trepidation many Australians feel when buying a high value item with an often low base of knowledge and we have set our 600+ staff to rally to the call to make the buying, selling and owning of cars hassle free, so we can all get that joy and freedom that having a set of wheels offers. We have exciting plans to continue to innovate in the category and felt now is the right time to start to shift the reputation and positioning of Australia’s #1 for cars.

“As a brand platform we think it [Grandma’s Hands] is simple and can hold both emotional and rational messages to help further showcase much of what we do,” he added.

The campaign is running in print, TV, OOH, radio and premium digital environments across all of Australia, metro & regional.

Credits:

Client: carsales
Chief Marketing Officer: Kellie Cordner
General Manager, Group Marketing: Rebecca Rizzo 
General Manager, Consumer Marketing: Priya Kanniappan 
Senior Marketing Manager: Anthony Potenza
Digital Marketing Manager: Caitlin Retell

Creative Agency: BMF

Chief Creative Officer: Alex Derwin 
Creative Director: Douglas Hamilton 
Chief Strategy Officer: Christina Aventi 
Senior Strategy Planner: Josef Wimberger 
General Manager: Paul Coles
Group Account Director: Edward Hughes 
Account Director: Denniz Post
Head of TV: Jenny Lee-Archer

Production Company: Scoundrel 
Director: Tom Noakes
Producer: Morgan Benson-Taylor 
Executive Producer: Adrian Shapiro 
Art Director: Alex Holmes 
Cinematographer: James Brown 
Offline Editor: Adam Wills

Post Production: Blockhead 
Colourist: Fergus Rotherham 
Online Artist: Stu Cadzow
Post Producer: Charlotte Plowman

Music: Level Two

Sound House: Rumble Studios
Sound Engineer: Tone Aston
Sound Producer: Michael Gie

Media agency: Rapid Media
Managing Director: Vaughan O’Connor 
Account Director: Kate Turner