The Tendo View

I have blogged about Smart in the past, noting the scrappy little brand’s forward-thinking site and its innovative approach to relationship marketing. My conclusion at the time was that there was a big gap between how established car companies like Nissan were handling relationship marketing with early adopters and how the new little kid on the block, Smart USA, was handling it.

Well, it turns out there’s more to the story. Nissan, in releasing its 100% electric Leaf,  a pioneering car in its own right, took Smart’s playbook and ran with it. There was the $99 reservation program just like Smart’s; there were the street tours in key markets to show off the car ahead of its official sales date (just like Smart); and there were blog experts within dealerships deployed to monitor and participate on enthusiast blogs. Again, just like Smart.

However, there was one key difference: When Smart launched the Fortwo in the United States, the company owned its sandbox. Early on, and in collaboration with Internet Brands, they launched Smart USA Insider in direct competition with a popular, third-party owned Smart forum. Smart USA Insider launched on June 16, 2008 with this message:

“…Smart USA Insider was designed to help Smart enthusiasts stay connected to each other and the Smart brand, and to complement the information provided on www.smartusa.com. The Smart USA Insider website offers Smart enthusiasts many social networking features, including starting and posting to message boards, forming local groups, uploading videos and photos, creating your own Smart page, creating a blog and building your network of Smart USA Insider friends…”

By contrast, Nissan heavily leveraged existing social networks Facebook and Twitter to both alert and update its buyer prospects of new developments in the launch of its Leaf. Although there is an official Leaf site, it lacks the community functionality that Smart USA insider has.

The decision not to launch a self-hosted community just yet has pros and cons associated with it. On the one hand, if the immediate challenge is to raise awareness among early adopters, there is little argument for not going fishing where the fish are. On the other hand, as prospects become owners—and by current projections that community is likely to eclipse 10,000 in the United States alone in the first model year—Nissan will want to encourage the adoption of, and participation in, its own sandbox to maximize its awareness and understanding of early adopter experiences as sales of the Leaf gain momentum.

Nissan must rely on this group of early hand raisers for word-of-mouth marketing, and their collective experiences will be critical in ensuring the Leaf’s continued success once the novelty factor begins to wear.

Smart anticipated this more than a year ahead of its launch of the Fortwo. Nissan, a company that has so closely emulated Smart’s approach in other respects, would be wise to begin building that sandbox now and making it the destination for all things Leaf, even as it continues to fish for prospects in existing third-party communities.