• by Larissa Faw , May 31, 2016

Turtle Wax is introducing its first custom content activation as part of a project with Mediavest | Spark, College Humor and Hearst that is designed to introduce the brand to the "next generation of car enthusiasts."  

"Our goal was to craft specific content that suits specific audiences which is more effective than a single message across different platforms," says Jason Temming, VP strategy director, Mediavest | Spark. 

The Hearst partnership features Dirt Diaries, a series of three videos introducing cool young people and how Turtle Wax plays into their lifestyles.  

The first video - currently running on the Esquire and Popular Mechanics sites - introduces the farmer Dominic who dispels common farming stereotypes and shows his pride with how Turtle Wax keeps his red truck looking shiny and new. The video ends with a social media contest inviting viewers to share their cars' before-and-after looks with the #dirtdiariescontest hashtag to win Turtle Wax prizes. 

The College Humor collaboration uses humor and less obvious product placement to engage with a younger audience. The video shows a British women wrangling her comedian friend to join her on errands, without letting him know she doesn't know how to drive. The clip ends with her getting out of the car without turning the car off.  

The content is published on sites that primarily skew male, but it also has universal appeal to all car enthusiasts, including women, says Courtney Lauer, director of marketing, Turtle Wax. All of this content is meant to tell a story that is genuine to the Turtle Wax brand and resonates with car enthusiasts.  

This initiative represents a new direction for the 70-year-old Turtle Wax. "From a content perspective and while working with Mediavest | Spark, Turtle Wax has only executed integrations into existing content, and it has been primarily auto-focused," says Lauer. This year, by comparison, the content is shifting more towards lifestyle messaging.  "This is an exciting step for Turtle Wax because together, all parties have worked in close partnership to create custom content that incorporates the Turtle Wax brand in a native tone that seamlessly matches the publisher’s voice," she says.  

This is one of the first projects under Spark's new name, as the agency has undergone a name change after recently merging with Mediavest as part of a larger Publicis Groupe reorganization.