From social strategy to connected campaign and customer journeys since 2010.

Mercedes-Benz

2010-Ongoing

Since September 2010, eDesign—now AY—has worked with Juffali Automotive to support Mercedes-Benz Saudi Arabia within a specialist multi-agency model. The scope evolved from social-media research, strategy, bilingual content, and community management into connected campaign journeys, customer-service systems, event support, and direct messaging.

The Challenge

In 2010, much of Saudi Arabia’s automotive conversation was taking place in third-party enthusiast forums, while Mercedes-Benz had a limited presence across channels it directly controlled. The challenge was to establish locally relevant communication in Arabic and English, maintain a consistent brand experience as platforms evolved, and create clear digital journeys that connected campaign interest, service enquiries, and event registrations with the appropriate teams.

Vision & Objectives

The initial objective was to understand where Saudi automotive conversations were taking place and translate those insights into an informed annual communication plan. As the scope expanded, the priorities evolved to include managing defined social channels, delivering consistent bilingual content, responding to customer enquiries, reporting performance, creating dedicated campaign-registration journeys, and routing leads, service appointments, and event registrations to the appropriate teams.

Build an evidence-led annual social-media plan.
Deliver consistent Arabic and English content across defined channels.
Manage community interactions and customer enquiries.
Connect campaign registrations and service requests with the appropriate teams.

Strategic Plan & Phases

Research Saudi automotive conversations and develop the annual communication plan — 2010–2011.

Establish social channels, bilingual content, community management, and performance reporting — from 2011.

Connect campaigns with landing pages and structured registration journeys — from 2012.

Develop lead-management, service-appointment, and event-registration systems — 2015–2020.

Expand direct customer communication through SMS and, later, WhatsApp Business — 2015–2026.

Challenges & Constraints

Supporting an evolving scope over many years required consistent brand expression across changing platforms, content formats, and operational needs. Campaign pages were often delivered within short timelines, while test-drive enquiries, service requests, and registrations needed to reach the appropriate teams without delay. Service-booking journeys also required clear branch ownership and coordination between the website and call centre. Meanwhile, limited conversion tracking made it difficult to connect digital activity directly to vehicle sales.

Consistency across evolving platforms and formats.
Short delivery windows for campaign pages.
Prompt routing of leads and service requests.
Limited attribution between digital activity and sales.

Documented Performance

39,075

Website page views recorded during 2014.

17,129

Clicks generated by documented paid-media activity in 2014.

3.63%

Click-through rate recorded across the same paid-media activity.

929

Community-contributed images across two documented campaigns.

Features & Capabilities

AY’s scope brought together social-media planning and management, bilingual content and community engagement, campaign-registration journeys, lead and service-request routing, event support, and direct customer messaging.

CORE CAPABILITIES

Social-media research, annual planning, and multi-channel management.
Bilingual content, community responses, and enquiry management.
Campaign planning, content publishing, and monthly performance reporting.
Photography, video production, campaign content, and event coverage.

Digital Platforms & Customer Journeys

Campaign landing pages, registration forms, and digital event journeys.
Test-drive registration with direct lead routing to the relevant teams.
Service-appointment management, branch assignment, and SMS confirmations.
Event confirmations and reminders, registration reporting, and SMS and WhatsApp Business messaging support.

User Needs

Customers needed clear communication in Arabic and English, straightforward registration journeys, and prompt confirmation of their requests. Test-drive enquiries had to reach the appropriate teams without delay, while service bookings required accurate vehicle and engine-variant selection, clear branch or department ownership, and the choice between visiting the service centre or arranging vehicle pick-up. Event participants also needed timely confirmations and reminders throughout the registration journey.