K-Auto is the car dealership of the major Finnish retail group, Kesko. It covers everything from the import and sales of new cars to second hand, company vehicles, repairs and maintenance. All of the business areas used to be run separately under their own brands as well as the car brands. All of the different units and brands were merged under the new K-Auto brand in 2021.
Cars and car brands tend to be of way more interesting than car dealerships.The majority of customers in the category are dissatisfied with the service. How could we launch a major new player in a way that makes it meaningful, emotionally and rationally appealing, and supports a best in class customer experience that raises the bar for the whole category?
Nowadays, corporate responsibility and sustainability are givens. We used that as a base but extended it into a flexible storytelling platform. The brand promise and concept K-Auto is ‘Merkkejä tulevaisuudesta’. It means both ‘signs from the future’ and ‘car brands from the future’. The concept is flexible and holistic enough to cover internal and external messages and communicative needs. So far, signs from the future include the widest range of electric cars in Finland, trustworthy second hand car dealers as well as internal marketing and training. This is just the beginning and more is in the pipeline.
Our collaboration with K-Auto is ongoing, but in less than four months we reached: