TRUECAR+: LAUNCHING A NEW WAY TO BUY A CAR, IN THREE WEEKS
Role: Creative Director (2024)
Context & Problem
TrueCar+ let people buy a car 100% online, from browsing to notarizing the purchase. The product was almost ready for beta, but it had no story yet. We had three weeks and a lean budget to give it one.
Insight
Online car shoppers don’t just want speed and convenience. They want to be in charge.
Brand Identity
We gave TrueCar+ its own look, built on gradients from the core brand palette with neon accents. It felt premium and digital-first while staying recognizably TrueCar.
Launch Film
A 30-second CTV spot built around a 3D vortex sequence: a portal into a new way of buying a car. To stretch a lean budget, we licensed live-action footage instead of shooting it. The film’s style became the template for every paid and social asset that followed.
Messaging
We tested four themes: convenience, speed, ease, and control. Control won with high-intent, independent buyers, which gave us the line Own the car. And the process. For leasing, it became Lease the car. Own the process.
Full-Funnel Launch
Landing page: Built for Gen Z and digitally native shoppers, with younger talent and convenience up front across new, used, and EV inventory.
Email: A full purchase journey, from consideration to cart abandonment to post-purchase. The feedback it captured shaped later product and messaging changes.
Performance and social: Modular layouts that flexed across vehicles and placements. Social ads used people, motion, and playful animation to make TrueCar+ feel approachable to a social-first audience, and creators made native TikToks around everyday car-buying moments.
In-product: With Product Design and Product Marketing, we added branded banners and callouts to search, listing, and vehicle pages to steer shoppers toward cars they could buy online.
OOH: With no budget for a photo shoot, we let the cars lead. Billboards featured vehicles from our partner brands alongside the campaign line.
Results
A full launch system, from identity and film to funnel and in-product, delivered in three weeks. Everything except the launch film was produced entirely in-house.
—CREDITS
Copywriting: Jeff Perreca, Eric Arnold
Art Direction: Wolf Den, Matt Olivotti
Video Editing, Motion & Animation: Wolf Den, Makiko Fukaya, Benny Baruch, John Flores
Branding and Visual Identity: Louis Alvardo, Austin Alcala, Taylor Watson, Nilsa Puentes
Influencer and UGC Creators Campaigns: Noah Peters