Many companies come up with a unique way to attract more customers and get so excited about their new marketing strategy that they forget about their brand. When working with a client in the automotive industry, we interviewed the client for two weeks off and on. We dug deep, seeking to find who the client was underneath the masks of cars, gimmicks and poorly produced ads. What we found was a client dedicated to working hard and truly cared about the community. However, the problem for this client was that the company had a poor reputation of working hard at "tricking" you into coming in and discovering there were no "real deals."
When we revealed the fact that our client was perceived as a basic "cheater", we really stepped on some toes. However, we were not the ones stepping; it was the potential customers. Talk about a smack in the face! Our client was furious!! After careful talking and even mediating, we were able to resume our strategy of changing this perception. We recommended to our client that a branding initiative was needed. It was time to revisit who the client was and let the public know.
We created a campaign that focused solely on creating a positive experience for customers. Instead of disproportionate guerrillas flying high overhead, we took a straight-forward approach and directly integrated the client's brand with the customer. How did we achieve this feat?
Any automotive client will tell you that selling a car comes from test drives, and that is the reason for so many gimmicks. Knowing a simple sales to drive conversion provided by our client, we created a campaign to sell cars while promoting the client's brand versus using gimmicks. The campaign worked as follows:
1. We researched the local market and discovered a hidden gem: a wavepool in a small town about 30 minutes from the client's location. This was also a town with no automotive dealers. Untapped market...yeah! We visited with the town manager and arranged a community pool party to be sponsored by our client.
2. We partnered with a local t-shirt vendor in the town and had the vendor create t-shirts for the event. We wanted to be as authentic as possible, so we made sure to keep everything local. Why? Branding is about being authentic!
3. We planned the event to compliment an already planned civil war exhibition taking place in the town. We had street teams of people handing out fliers for the pool party at the event, creating an "up-sale" for the exhibition, and ultimately providing something unexpected for tourists. This was a great move and made the town look nice!
4. We arranged for four specific vehicles to be on-site the day of the pool party. We opened up the cars for everyone to look in, and even offered test drives with one of our team members. We conducted the test drives to obtain research and to keep the campaign authentic. No salesmen ALLOWED!
5. As the party began, kids came pouring out from the neighborhoods, families that attended the exhibition brought their fliers, pizza was served and parents had fun test driving the vehicles while their children enjoyed a free night of fun. As people drove by, their curiosity won and they looked at the vehicles that each were clearly branded with our client's information all over the vehicles.
The night ended with the best possible feedback I could think of:
We would like to thank the client for showing interest in our town and letting these kids swim. What is the client's address so I can thank the client?
Wow! Talk about integrating a brand into an event and being authentic.
Blessings,
Chris
Chris Teague
V.P. WIN Firm
chris@thewinfirm.com
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