Dive Brief:

• CarMax unveiled a new brand positioning and tagline as it doubles down on omnichannel retail capabilities that span in-store and online shopping, according to a press release. 
• The largest used car marketplace in the U.S. is ditching “The way car buying should be,” a tagline it used for more than 20 years, in favor of “Wanna Drive?” New ads reinforce how CarMax enables customers to shop and sell the way they “wanna,” with a comedic house band providing the spots with a musical flair. 
• Developed with 72andSunny Los Angeles, the creative is airing across linear TV, streaming, social, digital and audio. Digitas handled media strategy on the effort.

Dive Insight:

CarMax wants to more strongly differentiate from rivals that are either online-only or brick and mortar with the pitch that it can do both, and even seamlessly toggle between the two retail channels based on customer preference.  

The brand has worked over the past several years to fine-tune its omnichannel know-how, including through investments in artificial intelligence — it was an early ChatGPT adopter, per Modern Retail — and its mobile app. CarMax’s Net Promoter Score, a metric that tracks how likely consumers are to recommend a product or service, currently sits at its highest level since the company launched its digital capabilities nationwide, the announcement said. 

Those tech-led strengths are at the center of “Wanna Drive?” and a new advertising campaign fronted by the CarMax House Band. The repositioning marks a “pivotal brand moment,” per press materials, and CarMax’s biggest creative shifts in years. Ads show the CarMax House Band following used car buyers and sellers, using humorous lyrics to narrate how customers are in control of every decision along the path to purchase or getting rid of an old vehicle. 

The peppy group is fronted by Tom McGovern, Ethan Edenburg and Eric Jackowitz, who make up the comedy trio Wolves of Glendale, as well as saxophonist Marta Tiesenga and multi-instrumentalist Jay Hemphill. Montreal-based producer Lubalin composed the songs while Kate Hollowell, of Epoch Films, served as director for the spots, which appear in 30-, 15- and six-second versions. 

This is CarMax’s first major campaign with 72andSunny Los Angeles since appointing the Stagwell-owned shop its creative agency of record in April. Publicis Groupe’s Digitas was recently put in charge of the brand’s media.