Driving Innovation: Enhancing Subaru’s Brand in the U.S. Market

In today’s fast-changing digital landscape, where standing out is increasingly difficult, enhancing brand value is more crucial than ever. Amid this competitive environment, Subaru has gone beyond its traditional focus on vehicles to create meaningful new touchpoints with its customers.

This case study highlights how btrax contributed to this innovative effort in the United States.

Project Overview: Adapting to Market and Industry Changes

btrax partnered with Subaru to ensure the brand remains a top choice in a highly digitized market. Our work spanned defining Subaru’s “brand core,” generating service ideas, developing prototypes, and conducting user testing.

Brand Development: Articulating the Brand Core

We engaged Subaru enthusiasts to uncover what makes the brand resonate.

Beyond tangible traits like “safety” and “performance,” we explored intangible values like “outdoor lifestyle,” “family,” and “open-mindedness.”

From user feedback, we identified Subaru’s unique essence, highlighting traits such as “Versatile,” “Open-minded,” and “Humble,” which now shape the brand’s forward-looking identity.

Service Design: Ideating Offerings Aligned with the Brand Core

With these core values defined, we hosted workshops to brainstorm new service concepts. By incorporating feedback from U.S. and Japanese Subaru users, we identified three promising ideas.

Validation: Refining Concepts Through Co-Creation

We refined these ideas through additional U.S. user interviews, narrowing them to a single final concept. Using videos and landing pages, we brought this concept to life for further testing.

Prototyping & User Testing: Bringing the Idea to Life

A prototype app was developed as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), enabling hands-on user testing. Feedback helped us make crucial adjustments to enhance the overall experience.

Research: Expanding Feedback at Subiefest

At Subiefest, a major Subaru fan event in Florida, we showcased the MVP and collected in-person feedback. This provided valuable insights, which were shared with Subaru of America to strengthen U.S.-Japan collaboration.

Project Outcomes and Future Directions

This project empowered Subaru to redefine its brand core, develop innovative customer touchpoints, and align strategies across U.S. and Japanese teams. The result is a stronger, globally connected brand experience.

Building on this success, btrax continues to help brands revisit their fundamentals, engage users, and create groundbreaking services for rapidly evolving markets.

Want to learn more?

Discover Subaru’s full case study here.