Mercedes-Benz USA

Case Study: Scaling MBUSA Social Operations & High-Impact Campaign Execution

The Challenge: Strategic Office Expansion & Network Growth

In a strategic move to extend R/GA’s network share, Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) transitioned key workstreams from New York to the Austin office. The objective was to decentralize operations by leveraging Austin’s specialized social media capabilities while maintaining brand consistency across a high-volume account.

The Action: Leading $1.2M Portfolio Operations

As the Program Manager, I spearheaded the day-to-day operations and strategic management of the MBUSA social program, overseeing a $1.2 million budget. My leadership focused on:

• Workstream Integration: Successfully offboarded work from the NY office and integrated it into the Austin workflow, ensuring zero downtime in content delivery.

• Cross-Functional Management: Led creative and account teams to deliver weekly client wins and large-scale “tentpole” marketing moments.

• Vendor & Influencer Coordination: Managed complex logistics for multi-location shoots, including high-profile influencers (e.g., accounts with 70k+ followers).

Featured Project: National Donut Day Campaign

To drive engagement and test the synergy between paid and organic social, I managed the execution of the “Donut Day” campaign in Austin.

• Content Volume: Orchestrated the real-time deployment of 18 Instagram Stories and 9 Feed posts within a 24-hour window.

• Strategic Messaging: Integrated specific “Sweet Surprise” CTA (Call to Action) language across paid and organic channels to track user intent.

The Results: Record-Breaking Engagement & Paid Media ROI

The program didn’t just meet KPIs—it redefined the benchmark for MBUSA’s social performance.

• Audience Action: Received ~500 Direct Messages in 24 hours. Notably, 30% of users adopted the “Sweet Surprise” language, proving that our paid content strategy successfully drove organic user behavior.

• Unprecedented Reach: The campaign generated nearly 4 million impressions, significantly outperforming historical benchmarks.

• PR Buzz: The campaign’s success led to multiple PR pickups, further extending the earned media value for the client.

Key Performance Metrics (Paid Instagram)

Metric	Total Count
Total Impressions	3,908,099
Total Reach	3,895,566
3-Second Views	338,898
Avg. Story Impressions	27.4k (Exceeding historical benchmarks)