CarGurus Makes Car Shopping a Couple's Call With the Mayes

CarGurus is selling a feeling before it sells a vehicle.

The automotive shopping platform teamed with NFL quarterback Drake Maye and his wife, content creator Ann Michael Maye, for "A Drive in the Life."

Creative partner Vagrants produced the five-minute documentary-style hero film in Maye's hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Vagrants Creative Director Rob Whalley told DesignRush how the team handled a brief that hinged on emotion.

"CarGurus had a clear idea of the emotional territory they wanted to explore, and our job was to find the creative approach that could bring that to life authentically.

With Drake and Ann Michael, that meant taking a documentary-style approach rather than treating them as spokespeople," he explained.

The film follows the couple through Drake's high school, old neighborhoods, and the roads connected to their relationship.

"Authenticity still needs creative direction; the trick is knowing what to design and what to leave alone.

The best moments were the ones that we gave ourselves the room to find," Whalley shared.

CarGurus' campaign runs through the end of 2026 across digital video, social media, and the company's owned channels.

The automotive marketplace's digital marketing strategy puts an emotional idea right next to the tools people use to pick a car.

Drake Maye Drives CarGurus' Big Deal Story

"A Drive in the Life" extends the brand's "Big Deal" platform through the married couple's own history with cars.

Drake recalls driving his first truck, while Ann Michael talks about their early dates and rides home after his games.

The film was shot with room for unscripted interactions and personal details.

This approach gives the couple space to tell the story while keeping cars central to their lives.

Vagrant's creative also brings the platform's shopping proposition into the brand narrative.

Drake and Ann Michael consider what they want in their next car, creating a natural opening for tools such as Guru, deal ratings, and price transparency.

These product features give the campaign a useful second act, pointing viewers toward their own next purchase.

68% of Couples Miss Their Partner's Full Money Picture

Gen Z made up the largest share of first-time car buyers in Capital One Auto's 2026 survey.

CarGurus' choice of a young married couple reflects a consumer group where cars can become a shared financial decision.

Fidelity's 2026 Couples & Money study found that 68% of couples did not know their partner's full financial capacity until they lived together.

Only 42% combine their finances into joint accounts, while about one in five keep everything separate.

The stakes get higher with major purchases.

Among Gen Z and millennial couples, 74% have been upset by a partner's financial decision, according to MagnifyMoney.

The Mayes give the brand a natural way to show the shared decisions behind a major purchase.

CarGurus' docu-style campaign presents three opportunities for marketers:

• Big purchases become relationship decisions. Brands should show both people involved in making high-cost decisions feel more relevant to households.
• Financial friction raises the value of transparency. Brands should make pricing, value, and product comparisons easy to discuss to reduce uncertainty.
• Personal storytelling can give products more relevance. Brands should connect products to the decisions couples are already making.

The opportunity for CarGurus is to make car shopping part of a recognizable relationship decision, giving the product a role in the couple's next chapter.

Our Take: Does Behind-the-Scenes Footage Make the Film Feel Real?

Behind-the-scenes footage gives CarGurus a second way to show the Mayes as ordinary people, with the production process visible around them.

The footage can capture conversations, location details, and candid interactions that may not fit the five-minute cut.

We think this is useful social material because it gives audiences more context without needing to invent a separate narrative.

But the content needs to retain the imperfections and incidental details that make production footage feel like access.

Done well, the extra footage can make the campaign feel like an ongoing look at the Mayes' lives, giving CarGurus more material to sustain interest through 2026.

Foot Locker's 36-episode "Sole Stories" does the same thing, extending a hero film into an ongoing documentary series.

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