Rivian has picked Known as its new media agency of record, and R2 is the whole reason why. Ad Age reported the move on September 25, noting it wasn’t clear who Rivian was working with right before this, though the company used Publicis Groupe’s Digitas as recently as last year.
Known co-founder Ross Martin shared a bit more on LinkedIn, saying the agency will bring its media, data science, analytics and Skeptic technology to help Rivian reach a much broader group of buyers. Jenny Lewis, Rivian’s Head of Marketing and e-Commerce, called R2 one of the biggest opportunities in the company’s history and said it deserves “a marketing motor as world-class as our vehicles.”
Rivian has mostly leaned on word of mouth, demo drives and owners doing the talking, which worked for a premium R1 but won’t get R2 into enough driveways on its own. Having spent time in my own R2, I think it does most of the convincing once someone actually sits in it, so the real challenge is getting people who’ve never looked at Rivian to book that first test drive. Bringing on a data-heavy media agency tells me Rivian knows that and is finally willing to spend to fix it.
Expect to see Rivian ads in a lot more places than you’re used to, and as soon as I spot the first new R2 campaign, I’ll share it with you all.
