'Schitt's Creek' Stars Eugene and Sarah Levy Appear in Ad Campaign for Capital One Auto Navigator

You may know Eugene Levy and his real-life daughter Sarah Levy as stars of the comedy series “Schitt’s Creek,” now streaming on Netflix. But guess what, they’re just like us—they have to buy cars and deal with auto loans too. Now, they’ve teamed up with Capital One to star in a new ad campaign that shows how easy the process can be.

The first spot in the campaign features Eugene arriving at Sarah’s home at 4 a.m., ready to prep her for buying a car. She sleepily tells him there’s an app for that, tapping Capital One Auto Navigator on her mobile phone.

“We know people will love seeing the natural humor and charm of Eugene and Sarah on screen once again,” said Marc Mentry, chief brand officer, Capital One, in a statement. “We’re so excited to bring them together for Capital One Auto Navigator’s first national ad.”

“It was an easy decision to do an ad for Capital One Auto Navigator. It’s one thing that could help make buying a car less stressful!” Eugene Levy said in the statement. “And doing this ad with my daughter Sarah made the whole Capital One experience such a joy.”

Plano division heavily involved in campaign

“Associates from our Plano campus were heavily involved with the strategy, development, and delivery of the campaign, in partnership with outside agencies,” Sanjiv Yajnik, president of Plano-based Capital One financial services, told Dallas Innovates.

The marketing team’s involvement included everything from concept development to scripting to execution on set. The Plano team joined the Levys’ commercial shoot virtually due to COVID-19 safety protocols.

Digital tools, car buyer benefits

Yajnik believes the time has never been more right for Auto Navigator.

“The car-buying process has long been in need of change,” he told us. “Car buyers desire transparency when making one of the biggest purchases of their lives, and dealers are rushing to adapt to changing car buyer expectations and increased demand for innovation and digital tools.”

Sanjiv Yajnik, president of Financial Services at Capital One, was the Corporate Innovator of the Year and a Dallas Innovates Future 50.

Capital One’s Sanjiv Yajnik [Art: Michael Samples; Headshot: Capital One]

“By pre-qualifying with Auto Navigator, car buyers can get personalized financing information, rate and payment for cars—all with no impact to their credit score—and save time at the dealership,” Yajnik added. “We’ve continued to build out Auto Navigator and today, it provides a digital inventory of millions of cars from thousands of participating dealerships across the nation, with new cars added every day.”

Auto Navigator was built collaboratively at Capital One’s nearly 5,000-strong Plano campus, in its innovation hub, The Garage. It was launched in 2015 with a goal of simplifying the car-buying experience for consumers, with new features added iteratively over the past few years in response to customer needs.

A united team for DFW and beyond

“At Capital One, we believe the experience of car ownership is both personal and pivotal,” Yajnik told us. “This belief has been our north star since we first entered the auto finance landscape with a drive to challenge the market for the sake of our customers, and our team is united behind this purpose.”

“Our employees are excited to be part of something that’s much bigger than ourselves, and this campaign is a huge moment for our division to celebrate and be inspired to continue to innovate.”

Yajnik says his team is excited to be part of the growing pulse of innovation in Dallas-Fort Worth.

“Vibrant communities and vibrant businesses go hand-in-hand,” he told us. “We want to be more than a guest in our community—we want to be a strong anchor, and we will continue to leverage our scale and resources to advance opportunities in DFW, the place we call home.”

A thumb’s up review

Finally, what’s Yajnik’s review of the Levy-Levy campaign? A big thumbs up.

“Eugene and Sarah brought this experience to life in such a compelling, entertaining way,” he said.

Capital One Auto Navigator is available online and via apps from the Google Play Store for Android and App Store for iPhone.

‘Schitt’s Creek’ Stars Eugene and Sarah Levy Appear in Ad Campaign for Capital One Auto Navigator

The real-life father and daughter want you to know how easy it is to buy a car when you start with Capital One Auto Navigator, from the company's Plano-based financial services division. (P.S., French toast is probably not included.)