Mijngarage (my garage) is an online consumer platform to help car drivers select maintenance & repair jobs at one of 1,500 affiliated garages. The platform offers a plug-in that connects your car to your mobile phone. It shows what maintenance or repairs your car itself is expecting. Drivers can share that information with a garage of their own choosing.
Why would you connect your car to your mobile phone? We found out that most people with older cars don’t keep their vehicles in a healthy state. Whenever a true malfunction occurs and a red light is flashing on the dashboard, it is usually too late. Meaning it will cost you to get things fixed. The plug-in checks and reports a car’s own malfunction messages at every car start. So you can have your car checked in time, to avoid large repairs. Who better to trust than your own car to tell if something’s wrong?
The problem is, how do you know what your car is telling you? Even though the mobile phone app explains the meaning of every error message your car gives, it is still wise to have a professional check those messages as well. That’s why drivers can share that information with a garage of their own choosing. Have them look over your shoulder to warn you of any serious malfunctions. In that way, the plug-in is nothing more than having your own car mechanic driving along. To tell you at every start whether your car is in top condition.
In this case, the user experience design started by thinking simply. By acting like cavemen behaving badly in a digital age. We did not want to understand a single automotive buzz word or technical phrase our client told us. We forced ourselves to delve into a driver’s misunderstanding of technical car issues. It helped us to decide to tone down the mobile app’s functions, to better chart the user experience and to make all visual designs accordingly.
The plug-in is being promoted at all 1,500 affiliated garages. They will personally install your plug-in and connect it to your mobile phone. Each and every garage received a sales promotion kit containing car mirror hangers, posters, flyers and sales counter displays. As plug-ins are ordered by consumers themselves, we introduced a simplified cartoon-like visual style for the app and packaging.
Visually explaining your plug-in and mobile app should appeal to garage owners, car mechanics and car drivers at the same time. We produced an infomercial for online and presentation purposes. Garage owners were digitally invited to six regional introduction events that each drew a crowd of hundreds of people.
The image strategy we developed and photography we orchestrated show the plug-in’s key message: make your own car mechanic drive along to keep your car healthy. Simply put: Car. Check. Go. The same message is used in online advertising and for the dedicated plug-in webpage at mijngarage.nl.
We stick to our BrainSells methodology. Like the case above. We also understand that you might want to know if the same approach will work for your brand or company. Are you still wondering if we can ‘crack your case’ as well? Then simply contact Jeroen:
