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Where automotive complexity, brand precision and fleet operations meet purposeful digital design;
Digital tools, apps and platforms for automotive manufacturers, dealers, fleet operators and aftermarket suppliers, designed for multi-tier stakeholder environments, technical product communication and the brand precision that automotive clients require.
Automotive businesses face a digital problem that most agencies address from the wrong end. The brand brief becomes the design brief, and the platform that results serves the manufacturer's communication objectives rather than the actual tasks of the people using it.
The fleet maintenance manager identifying the correct filter for a specific vehicle has nothing in common with the consumer comparing trim levels from the couch. The dealer quoting a trade-in needs different tools entirely from the OEM communicating a new model launch. Automotive digital spans four distinct audiences with four different sets of information needs, and a platform designed for one will fail the other three.
We have built for automotive OEMs, their agency partners, and the fleet operators whose maintenance workflows depend on accurate, fast digital tools. This page explains what we have built, what we learned from it, and how it applies to the specific digital challenges the automotive sector presents.
Designed for multi-tier audience environments, technical product communication and the deadline precision that automotive campaign work demands.
Our automotive sector credibility comes from direct delivery for major OEM brands and the fleet operators who maintain their vehicles at scale.
Automotive digital is not a single type of problem. A campaign microsite for a new model launch needs to go live to a deadline, handle a spike in traffic on day one, and perform flawlessly for six weeks before it is retired. A fleet parts tool needs to run reliably on a workshop tablet, return accurate compatibility results for thousands of SKUs, and get faster to use with every session. A dealer-facing customer education app needs to work in a showroom environment, be updated by non-technical OEM staff, and communicate technical concepts to customers who have no interest in learning them.
These are structurally different digital problems. They share an industry, a set of brand standards, and sometimes the same end users, but they require different architecture, different performance priorities, and different design logic from the outset. The agency that treats automotive digital as a single category will design the wrong thing for at least two of these three contexts.
We bring this understanding to every automotive engagement. The discovery process starts with audience, task and context: who is using this, where, under what time pressure, completing what specific action. The platform is designed around those answers, not around the brand guidelines that follow.
Automotive digital fails most often not from bad execution but from bad problem definition. The platform gets scoped against the brand brief rather than against the actual audience and their task.
The OEM communicating a new model, the dealer presenting it to a customer, the fleet operator specifying it for a tender, and the owner troubleshooting a warning light are all using automotive digital platforms. Each of these users arrives with a different question, a different level of technical knowledge, and a different tolerance for friction. A platform designed around any one of them will actively obstruct the others.
A campaign microsite tied to a TVC launch needs to perform under a traffic spike on day one, communicate a brand moment with precision, and then be retired. A fleet tool or dealer app needs to perform consistently over years, be maintained without developer involvement, and improve in usability with every session. Building a campaign microsite like a long-term platform wastes budget. Building a long-term platform like a campaign microsite creates technical debt from launch day.
Automotive products are technically complex, and communicating that complexity to customers who are not mechanics is a design problem as much as a content problem. Features that an engineer describes in specification terms need to be presented in terms of the driver's experience: what it does for you, in what situation, with what result. Content designed from the specification rarely lands with the audience it is trying to reach.
Fleet managers and workshop technicians identifying parts do not browse. They arrive with a specific vehicle, a specific fault or maintenance requirement, and need to confirm the correct product quickly and accurately. Incorrect parts selection has operational and cost consequences. A product catalogue designed for discovery is the wrong architecture for this task; the correct architecture is built around vehicle specification as the entry point, not product category.
OEM brand guidelines exist to protect brand equity across a global network of communications. They are not a design brief for a specific digital tool. A platform built to the letter of the brand guidelines, rather than to the requirements of the actual task and audience, will be visually compliant and functionally compromised. Brand standards should inform the design of a tool; they should not replace the design thinking.
These are the digital problems we encounter most consistently across automotive and fleet sector clients.
When audience priorities are not resolved in discovery, they get resolved by whoever has the loudest voice in the room. The result is a platform with conflicting navigation logic, overcrowded information architecture, and conversion pathways that work for one user type while actively confusing the others.
Automotive products contain genuinely impressive engineering, but presenting that engineering in specification terms to a consumer audience produces content that is accurate and unread. The communication problem is real: how do you make a technical differentiator legible to someone who experiences it only as a driver, not as an engineer?
Campaign digital in automotive often gets evaluated internally on brand compliance rather than on whether the interactive mechanic actually communicates the product message. The result is microsites that pass sign-off and fail to hold audience attention past the first interaction.
Fleet maintenance tools with too many input steps, unclear compatibility logic, or results that require interpretation create more friction than the phone call they were designed to replace. A tool that takes longer than calling the parts counter will not be used.
OEM-managed dealer tools that cannot be updated by internal non-technical staff create a bottleneck at every product change, pricing update or compliance revision. In a network of dozens or hundreds of dealers, the cost of that bottleneck compounds quickly.
When iOS, Android, web and tablet versions of the same tool are built independently, the maintenance cost quadruples and version consistency fails over time. Shared codebase approaches, when properly scoped, deliver consistent behaviour across platforms at a fraction of the ongoing cost.
We design digital tools that reflect how automotive businesses and their audiences actually operate.
The following projects demonstrate capabilities that translate directly to automotive sector digital requirements.
Capability demonstrated: Multi-platform OEM customer education app with shared codebase and custom CMS
Directly applies to: Automotive OEMs and dealers needing to communicate technical product information to customers in a showroom or service environment
Toyota needed a way for dealership staff to walk customers through technical concepts and vehicle features in a clear, engaging format that did not require the customer to have any mechanical knowledge. The traditional owners manual was not fit for purpose as a conversation tool in a showroom setting.
A dual-platform app (iPad and Android Galaxy Tab 10.1) built in Adobe Air from a shared codebase, reducing development overhead and ensuring consistent behaviour across both tablet platforms. A custom CMS allowed Toyota's non-technical team to update, edit and restructure the app content independently without developer involvement, keeping the tool current as product ranges and features changed.
Technical product communication in automotive works backwards from how most product teams approach it. The starting point is not the feature specification; it is the customer's experience of the problem: the warning light that appeared, the function they cannot find, the feature they want to understand before driving away. Content designed from that entry point gets used in the showroom. Content designed from the engineering specification does not.
This type of tool directly supports:
What this demonstrates:
Capability demonstrated: Automotive brand campaign microsite with interactive product feature communication
Directly applies to: Automotive brands and their agency partners running campaign-specific digital activations tied to TVC releases or model launches
Nissan needed a campaign microsite to coincide with the launch of new television commercials, extending the TVC's themes into a digital format capable of communicating vehicle features interactively rather than passively. The microsite needed to hold user attention beyond a single visit and translate product capability into an engaging digital experience.
An interactive microsite using video as animated backgrounds, with a series of interactive modules using different input types to communicate specific Nissan vehicle features. One module used microphone-based interaction to demonstrate an environmental response feature, making the product capability experiential rather than descriptive. The site was built to coincide with the TVC release window and designed to perform under the traffic spike that accompanied the campaign launch.
Automotive campaign microsites succeed when the interactive mechanic is motivated by the product story rather than added as a novelty. When the interaction communicates the feature directly, the user understands the product while engaged with the experience. When the interaction is decorative, completion rates drop after the first module because there is nothing being communicated that the user could not have read in a product brochure.
This type of work directly supports:
What this demonstrates:
Capability demonstrated: Cross-platform fleet parts compatibility selection tool across iOS, Android and web
Directly applies to: Automotive fleet operators, parts distributors, workshops and service centres managing vehicle fleets with complex parts compatibility requirements
Donaldson Australasia needed a way for fleet owners and workshop technicians to identify the correct filter products for their specific vehicles quickly and accurately, across a large and technically complex product range. Users were working under time pressure, often on-site, needing exact results fast and without access to a product specialist or the patience to cross-reference a printed catalogue.
A cross-platform parts selection tool running consistently across Android, iOS and web browser from a shared HTML5 codebase, with a remote administration portal giving Donaldson's internal team direct control over product data and compatibility mappings without developer involvement. Users input their vehicle specification and the tool surfaces the correct product immediately, without requiring knowledge of Donaldson's internal catalogue structure.
Fleet maintenance tools live or die on lookup speed. A technician identifying a filter during a scheduled service has a window of minutes, not hours. Every extra step in the compatibility search is friction that risks the tool being abandoned for a phone call. The design priority is minimum inputs, maximum specificity, immediate result. Any feature that adds a step without improving the accuracy of the result should not be in the tool.
This type of system directly supports:
What this demonstrates:
Customer-facing and internal tools for automotive manufacturers and their dealer networks: showroom apps, product communication tools, dealer content management systems, and OEM-commissioned digital products that serve the specific task of communicating technical vehicle information to non-technical customers in a dealership environment.
Campaign-specific digital activations for automotive model launches, TVC extensions and promotional campaigns: built for deadline-driven delivery, peak launch traffic, and interactive feature communication that holds audience attention beyond passive viewing. We have delivered campaign digital for major OEM brands through agency partnerships.
Compatibility-based parts selection tools for fleet operators, workshops and parts distributors: built around vehicle specification as the primary input, delivering accurate results in minimum steps for users working under time pressure in workshop environments. Cross-platform delivery across mobile and web from shared codebases.
iOS, Android and web application development from shared codebases for automotive environments: reducing build cost and ongoing maintenance overhead while maintaining consistent interface behaviour across every platform. Custom CMS backends allowing non-technical OEM and dealer staff to update app content independently.
Interactive and visual communication of automotive technical content for non-technical audiences: feature explainer tools, interactive specification comparisons, and dealer-facing customer education content designed from the driver's experience rather than the engineering specification.
Automotive business websites for dealers, fleet operators, parts distributors and aftermarket suppliers: designed around the specific information needs of automotive buyers and operators rather than generic service business templates. Multi-audience architecture that separates consumer, trade and fleet pathways without building three separate sites.
Core services we deliver for automotive manufacturers, dealers, fleet operators, parts distributors and aftermarket suppliers.
Automotive digital covers more distinct problem types than most industries. The agency that can deliver a consumer-facing campaign microsite is not necessarily the one that can build a fleet parts compatibility tool, and neither of those capabilities automatically translates to OEM dealer app development. The right partner understands which type of problem you actually have before proposing a solution.
Key considerations when evaluating a digital partner for automotive digital work:
Yes. We have built dealer-facing digital tools for automotive OEMs including Toyota, delivered through agency partnerships. Dealer digital work requires understanding both the OEM brand compliance requirements and the specific tasks that dealership staff and customers need to complete in a showroom or service environment.
Yes. We built the Inside My Toyota app for Toyota Australasia, delivered through AdInc, across iPad and Android tablet from a shared codebase. OEM-commissioned app work involves specific approval workflows, brand compliance requirements and content management needs that we have navigated directly.
Yes. We built the Truck Filter Guide for Donaldson Australasia: a cross-platform compatibility tool running on iOS, Android and web, allowing fleet managers and technicians to identify the correct filter product for their specific vehicle across a large and technically complex product range. The same architecture applies directly to any automotive parts distributor or fleet maintenance context.
Yes. We built the Nissan Shift the Way You Move campaign microsite, delivered through Tequila Digital, coinciding with a TVC launch. Automotive campaign microsites require deadline-driven delivery, launch-day traffic performance, and interactive mechanics that communicate product features rather than just delivering brand impressions.
We design technical product content from the audience's experience of the feature, not from the engineering specification. The question is not "what does this technology do?" but "what does the driver experience in the situation where this technology matters?" Content designed from that entry point communicates to non-technical audiences where specification content does not.
WordPress is our standard recommendation for most dealer and OEM dealer network content management. For dealer networks, we configure role-based access so individual dealers can manage their own content within OEM-controlled templates and brand parameters, without the ability to override brand-compliance elements. This keeps the network consistent without requiring centralised management of every update.
Yes. We build compatibility-first filtering architectures where the primary input is vehicle specification rather than product category, so users arrive at the correct result in minimum steps without needing to understand the catalogue structure. The same approach applies to any automotive parts context where users know their vehicle but need to identify the correct product.
Campaign microsites typically run four to eight weeks from brief to launch, depending on interactive complexity and approval cycles. App development projects run 12 to 20 weeks depending on platform scope, backend complexity and content volume. Fleet tools and dealer platforms sit in between, typically 10 to 16 weeks. All of these timelines assume discovery is completed before design begins, which is not optional for automotive projects with multiple stakeholders and approval layers.
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Our Mission:
Automotive brands build their digital platform for the brand. The fleet manager, the dealer and the end consumer all arrive with entirely different needs.
Q: How do you approach a digital project for an automotive manufacturer or dealer?
A: We begin with audience mapping before any design work: who is using this platform, in what environment, completing what specific task. Automotive projects almost always involve multiple distinct audiences with conflicting information priorities. Discovery forces those conflicts into the open before they become expensive design decisions. For OEM-commissioned work delivered through an agency, we also map the approval structure and brand compliance requirements in the brief so they are understood by everyone before the first design file is opened.
Q: How do you manage automotive projects delivered through agency partnerships?
A: We have delivered automotive digital projects for Toyota and Nissan through agency partners. Agency-partnered delivery means understanding two sets of requirements simultaneously: the agency's creative brief and the OEM's brand compliance and technical standards. We structure our process to give agency partners clear visibility of build progress without creating a communication bottleneck, and we bring OEM brand compliance knowledge into the technical brief rather than treating it as a design constraint to work around at the end.
Q: How long does a campaign microsite for an automotive model launch take to build?
A: Four to eight weeks from confirmed brief to launch, depending on interactive complexity, video production dependencies and approval cycles. The constraint in automotive campaign work is rarely the build itself; it is the approval cycle for brand and legal compliance. We scope the approval stages explicitly into the timeline rather than assuming they will happen between builds, because they almost never do without structure.
Q: How do you handle OEM brand guideline compliance in automotive digital work?
A: Brand guidelines inform the design; they do not replace the design brief. We read the OEM brand guidelines in detail before any design work, identify the constraints that are non-negotiable and the parameters that have flexibility, and design within those constraints rather than against them. When a guideline creates a genuine usability problem for the target audience and task, we surface that conflict explicitly rather than working around it silently.
Q: Do you work with automotive clients who need fast turnaround on campaign digital?
A: Yes, with the caveat that fast turnaround requires a locked brief and fast approval decisions on the other side. We have delivered automotive campaign microsites in four weeks from a confirmed brief. We cannot deliver in four weeks from an open brief with multiple stakeholders and an undefined approval process. The realistic timeline starts with a scoping conversation, not a deadline.
Q: Can you build cross-platform apps for automotive environments from a shared codebase?
A: Yes. We built the Inside My Toyota app across iPad and Android tablet from a shared Adobe Air codebase. Cross-platform development from a shared codebase reduces build cost and ongoing maintenance overhead significantly compared to building separate native apps for each platform. The tradeoff is that shared codebases require careful scoping of platform-specific requirements upfront. We identify these early in discovery so they are accounted for in the build rather than discovered during testing.
Q: What technology do you use for fleet parts compatibility tools?
A: We build fleet compatibility tools in HTML5 for web and wrap for mobile delivery, using a backend compatibility database structured around vehicle specification as the primary key rather than product category. The Donaldson Truck Filter Guide runs across Android, iOS and web browser from a single codebase. The administration portal is a custom CMS that allows Donaldson's internal team to update product data and compatibility mappings without developer involvement.
Q: Can you build interactive microsites using video and non-standard user inputs?
A: Yes. The Nissan Shift the Way You Move microsite used video as animated backgrounds and included modules with microphone-based user interaction. Non-standard input types require additional browser compatibility testing and graceful fallback design for devices or browsers that do not support the input method. We build these considerations into the technical brief from the start rather than discovering them during quality assurance.
Q: What CMS do you build for automotive OEM and dealer content management?
A: We build custom CMS solutions for automotive clients where the off-the-shelf options do not fit the specific content structure, and WordPress configurations with custom fields and role-based access for clients where the content management requirements are more standard. The choice depends on the content architecture, the number of content managers, the approval workflow and the level of brand compliance control required at the OEM level versus the dealer level.
Q: How do you approach mobile performance for fleet tools used in workshop environments?
A: Workshop environments are not ideal for digital tools: inconsistent connectivity, devices that have been in use for years, variable lighting conditions, and users who need results in seconds rather than minutes. We design for the worst plausible device and connection, not the best. This means aggressive performance optimisation, offline capability where the use case requires it, and interface design tested on older mid-range devices rather than the latest flagship hardware.
Q: How does your automotive experience translate to my specific digital project?
A: We make the translation explicit at discovery rather than leaving it implied. The structural problems we have solved across OEM apps, campaign microsites and fleet tools map to a finite set of requirements: multi-audience information architecture, technical product communication, compatibility-based product selection, cross-platform delivery, and CMS configuration for non-technical operators. We identify which of these problems your project actually has and how our directly relevant experience applies to each one.
Q: How do you design automotive digital products for multiple audiences simultaneously?
A: We resolve audience conflicts in discovery before they become design conflicts in production. This means mapping every distinct user type, their entry point to the platform, their primary task, and the information they need to complete it, then designing navigation architecture that separates those pathways without requiring four separate sites. The goal is that each audience reaches their task in the minimum number of steps, without passing through content designed for a different audience first.
Q: What makes an automotive campaign microsite successful rather than just visually impressive?
A: A campaign microsite succeeds when the audience leaves having understood something about the product they could not have understood from a static brochure or TVC alone. The interactive mechanic should communicate a product feature or experience, not just provide visual engagement. Completion rates, time on site and message recall are better measures of success than page views, because page views measure arrival, not comprehension.
Q: How does a fleet parts tool create business value for a parts distributor?
A: A fleet parts tool that is faster and more accurate than calling the parts counter reduces inbound call volume, reduces incorrect parts orders, and increases order volume from customers who previously found the catalogue too complex to navigate independently. The business case is not primarily about digital presence; it is about reducing friction in a procurement workflow that happens dozens of times a day across a fleet operator's vehicle pool.
Q: What does good look like for an automotive brand's digital presence?
A: A good automotive digital presence serves every audience in its ecosystem without any audience having to navigate content designed for someone else. The fleet manager finds compatibility information without passing through consumer feature marketing. The dealer accesses product and pricing content without navigating the consumer purchase pathway. The consumer researches a model without encountering fleet tender documentation. Each of these outcomes requires deliberate architecture decisions; none of them happen by default from a brand-led design brief.
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