[NickJ]

​

Mercedes Benz has embraced the world of social media and begun a contest based in the Instagram world of sepia and vignetted photos from around the world. Mercedes has put the keys to the brand new CLA in the hands of "5 of Instagram's Best Photographers, 5 days each" in order to see whose photography gets the most "likes." The photographer that gets the most likes on the site will be awarded a 3 Year Lease. Really MB? Really? You are going to use 5 photographers for what they dedicate their lives to and then the prize is that you will essentially let them borrow a car for 3 years? All the sudden you now have 5 photographers producing stunning product shots for you that are going to be added to Instagram, whose use contract is rather vague and controversial. This sounds like MB has come up with the best non prize ever!

They apparently another spot up for grabs for the general public. There is not a lot of information on how the public can enter up front, but after some digging I was able to find the official rules (Which are on Facebook). You are to upload your single entry photo (Limit one (1) entry per person/authorized e-mail account holder/Instagram account.) to Intagram via Facebook or their Instagram page that didn't work when I clicked on it. The entries will then be judged and after several rounds, one winner will be selected to Travel to "mutually agreed upon East Coast City" to take delivery of a CLA250 for 36 months. The prize will allow for a cash payment of $3000 to be used for expenses of the trip, including fuel, accommodations, means, etc. There will also be a cash payment of $4542.53 to offset taxes. The total Cash Value of the Grand Prize is $24, 785.53.

Specifications of the Mercedes-Benz CLA 250 vehicle are as follows: Polar Silver paint, Black MB Tex, Anthracite trim, Sport Package, Panorama Roof, Bi-Xenon Headlamps, Premium 1 Package, Multimedia Package and 18" inch AMG wheels.All vehicle specifications and options (if any) are at the Sponsor's sole discretion. Lease mileage limited to 12,000 miles per year.

The Grand Prize Winner will be required to sign a vehicle lease agreement through Mercedes-Benz Financial Services which may have additional terms and conditions. The Grand Prize Winner will incur certain costs in receiving the 36 month single-pay lease of the Vehicle. These costs may include, but are not limited to, federal and state income taxes, ad valorem liability, registration costs and insurance costs. The Grand Prize Winner will be responsible for payment of all costs and any other expenses, associated with the ownership and use of the Vehicle. The Grand Prize Winner will be solely responsible for all income taxes, liability and collision insurance premiums, scheduled routine maintenance charges, excess wear and use charges, damage to the vehicle charges, early termination fees, excess mileage charges, gasoline, use taxes, license, title, registration fees, other operating expenses and other government fees and expenses incurred as result of receiving or using the Vehicle. The vehicle must be returned at the end of the 36 month lease term, purchase option will be made available.** Winner will be responsible for pick up and return of Vehicle at time and location determined in the sole discretion of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services.

I dunno if that is what I would call a great prize. It would be nice to win a lease, but it would be way better to win the car outright. Sounds to me like MB is going to get a lot of quality Press Photos for almost nothing out of their pockets... What do you guys think?

 

[NickJ]

Follow the Link: 5 of Instagram's best photographers, 5 days each behind the wheel. Whoever gets the most likes, keeps the all-new Mercedes-Benz CLA.



Here's the video:

-Eric

Original Poster

 

[El Chorizo]

Hopefully some of our members will enter, I'm not an Instagram user myself.

 

[Sue Esponte]

This sounds like MB has come up with the best non prize ever!

Technically, that prize might belong to Snapple: Snapple - Win Nothing Instantly ...although I actually like their campaign since its true meaning is the opposite! lol While I've seen car leases given as prizes before this one struck me as odd, too, especially coming from the manufacturer. I guess MB USA Marketing doesn't have much of a budget for a car give away to promote the CLA. Odd or not, I'm going to venture a guess none of us would pass on a free CLA (even if only for 3 years) if Mercedes wanted to hand one over! I'm not an active Instagram either but I'd really love to see a forum member take the prize, too!

On a separate note, there has been a lot of speculation in threads about residuals on the CLA. Anyone looking for further insight into lease rates (with a few minutes more time than I have right now) can reverse engineer a residual from the contest details. It might not be exact but it should be indicative. In the contest rules, they tell us that the winner will receive a "Mercedes-Benz CLA 250" equipped as follows: "Polar Silver paint, Black MB Tex, Anthracite trim, Sport Package, Panorama Roof, Bi-Xenon Headlamps, Premium 1 Package, Multimedia Package and 18" inch AMG wheels." They also tell us that "lease mileage [is] limited to 12,000 miles per year" and that the leased CLA has an "approximate retail value of: $14,393.00." Based on this information, If you calculate the MSRP of a car equipped as described above and determine what % of that MSRP is equal to the retail value of the lease (i.e., $14,393) you can determine the CLA250's residual when applied to a 12K mi/36 mos lease.

-Eric

 

[SuperCLA]

To bad is it only a USA competition. If it where European or Dutch, I would be all over this !

 

[uosef_2013]

I like this mercedes maroc benz cla it's great

 

[mbmanhattan]

View attachment 1128

The photo above was taken by Tim Landis. We were lucky enough to be able to grab him while he passed through Manhattan. Here he is taking a photo for the CLA250 outside our dealership. He also posted a photo inside our showroom here: Instagram



He took some great photos during his week with the car. Be sure to check out the other contestants!

 

[Diber]

View attachment 1128​

Mercedes Benz has embraced the world of social media and begun a contest based in the Instagram world of sepia and vignetted photos from around the world. Mercedes has put the keys to the brand new CLA in the hands of "5 of Instagram's Best Photographers, 5 days each" in order to see whose photography gets the most "likes." The photographer that gets the most likes on the site will be awarded a 3 Year Lease. Really MB? Really? You are going to use 5 photographers for what they dedicate their lives to and then the prize is that you will essentially let them borrow a car for 3 years? All the sudden you now have 5 photographers producing stunning product shots for you that are going to be added to Instagram, whose use contract is rather vague and controversial. This sounds like MB has come up with the best non prize ever!

They apparently another spot up for grabs for the general public. There is not a lot of information on how the public can enter up front, but after some digging I was able to find the official rules (Which are on Facebook). You are to upload your single entry photo (Limit one (1) entry per person/authorized e-mail account holder/Instagram account.) to Intagram via Facebook or their Instagram page that didn't work when I clicked on it. The entries will then be judged and after several rounds, one winner will be selected to Travel to "mutually agreed upon East Coast City" to take delivery of a CLA250 for 36 months. The prize will allow for a cash payment of $3000 to be used for expenses of the trip, including fuel, accommodations, means, etc. There will also be a cash payment of $4542.53 to offset taxes. The total Cash Value of the Grand Prize is $24, 785.53.




I dunno if that is what I would call a great prize. It would be nice to win a lease, but it would be way better to win the car outright. Sounds to me like MB is going to get a lot of quality Press Photos for almost nothing out of their pockets... What do you guys think?

i 2nd that. it's great to win a car. but they should of defintely let you own it and do away with the leasing part.
cmon, in life theirs drivers, and passengers, who do you want to be? it's a great contest/incentive but they should keep the car

 

[I want my A-M-G]

Hopefully some of our members will enter, I'm not an Instagram user myself.

I guess MB knows their demographics better than I... but isn't Instagram mostly a young audience? Are they hoping kids will get their parents to buy a CLA? (No offense intended to anyone on the board... the only people I know on Instagram are my pre-teen nieces).