Europcar, the leader in car hire services in Europe for leisure and business users, has launched an innovative new social media campaign for the summer.

Using YouTube and Facebook, the Europcar Caraoke Competition sets out to find the best in-car karaoke singer in the country – with a grand prize of a Fiat 500 car plus weekly prizes up for grabs. The campaign is another example of Europcar’s thought leading marketing strategy, following 2011’s multi-faceted freeDeliver campaign, engaging customers and social media savvy consumers alike.

The Caraoke campaign plays on the karaoke culture and builds on the huge popularity of talent shows.  With so many singers and wannabe performers entering talent shows but falling short of their big break, Europcar’s Caraoke Competition provides a great opportunity for the more eclectic singers and entertainers to prove their worth - and drive away in a cool Fiat 500.

The Social Media campaign will be focused on promoting the talent show style competition and will be hosted on Facebook, utilising the YouTube API feed.

The Europcar Caraoke Competition comprises two aspects to encourage maximum engagement amongst the public and inspire them to show off their star qualities. The idea is to get people recording their favourite song from a list of 10 classics including the Troggs hit, ‘Wild Thing’ and ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ by Toploader’ and then uploading their videos to YouTube.

The second part of the campaign aims to get consumers voting for their favourite videos and sharing them via Facebook. The performance with the most votes will win the Fiat 500.

In addition to the grand prize, a series of weekly prizes will be given out between July 25th and August 22nd including Amazon e-vouchers, Eastern Airways flights, an overnight stay plus dinner and breakfast at a Hand Picked Hotel, Garmin Sat Nav systems, Samsung Galaxy Tablets, Driving Experience packages and Spa Days at the luxurious 5 Star hotel resort Stoke Park. Weekly prize winners will be selected via a prize draw by Promo Veritas giving entrants more chances to win prizes.

Europcar will also be hosting two road show events to encourage shoppers to participate in the Caraoke Competition. These will take place in Bluewater, Kent on Saturday 28th July and the Bullring, Birmingham on Saturday August 11th.  Europcar is urging people to make a date in their diaries to exhibit their talents by recording their videos at the events.

The totally interactive campaign reinforces Europcar’s position as number one in the European car hire marketplace as it brings a more personal and friendly voice to the brand in a market where social interaction with car hire firms is usually only one way.

“Our job, as market leader is to set the standard across the board,” said Ken McCall, Managing Director, Europcar UK Group.  “From car hire to social media strategies and campaigns our objective is to keep Europcar at the forefront of the marketplace by implementing innovative techniques that drive the business forward and change consumer expectations of car hire. 

“With Caraoke we aim to reach a new audience; raising awareness of Europcar’s innovative car hire services to the social media savvy population.”