Mercedes-Benz's thinking behind this product placement approach is simple — kids who grew up playing Nintendo are adults, some with families of their own, but are still ripe for the picking when it comes to experiencing the thrills of tapping their thumbs to their favorite titles ... and maybe getting behind the wheel of Mercedes GLA SUV someday.
That's why the luxury automaker is directly marketing its $32,500 GLA compact SUV to adult gamers in two Nintendo Wii U titles — beginning with Mario Kart 8 last year and Super Mario Maker as of just last week.
"Many people grew up with Mario during the last 30 years, so there are quite a lot of 30- and 40-somethings around for which Super Mario Maker hails back to their childhood days and gives them a large dose of nostalgia," Caroline Pilz, head of product placement and fashion sponsoring for Mercedes-Benz Cars, told Fortune.
That being said, Mercedes has to walk the fine line in not overdoing it with placing its GLA in downloadable content (DLC) for the games.
Pilz added: "While we received a lot of positive feedback on the campaign and the integration of our cars into Mario Kart 8, we also learned that many gamers are skeptical about brands appearing in their games. So we made sure to put a lot of effort and passion into designing the actual level."
The automaker's free Super Mario Maker DLC stage is called the Mercedes-Benz Jump'n'Drive with the course taking gamers from a dealership to a test drive and whipping around the autobahn. Successfuly completing the customized course unlocks a tiny in-game Mercedez-Benz GLA, equipped with Mario in the driver's seat. If there's better subliminal marketing in the auto industry than this, we don't know it.
This comes after Mercedes first announced its splashy collaboration with Nintendo and Mario last spring.
Although these collaborations have been making plenty of noise, they are far from Mercedes's first jump into video games, as the automaker has worked with Sony on Gran Turismo, Microsoft's Forza Motorsport and EA Sports' Need for Speed in the past.
"Gaming has been important for our branded entertainment marketing strategy since the integration of the SLS AMG sports car in Gran Turismo 5 in 2009," Pilz says. "Since then, we have intensified our relationships with the gaming industry and executed at least one major marketing partnership per year. Moving forward, there is very likely a growing importance of games, as the global gaming audience is growing older and more diverse, and thus becomes even more relevant to us as a brand."
