Renault has been a household name and leading automotive brand for as long as anyone can remember. The multinational conceived on the Avenue du Cours in Billancourt, France some 110 years ago is now one of the global industry’s leading players, so why then did Renault UK decide to take part in the British International Motor Show 2008 at London’s ExCeL?
The UK car and vans market is hugely competitive so following a successful outing at the 2006 event and in spite of the looming credit crunch, Renault UK took the decision to invest in exhibiting at the event with the objective of promoting the company’s latest models and launches.
Since the regeneration of the show under the expert direction of event organisers International Motor Industry Events (IMIE), the British International Motor Show uniquely delivers hundreds of thousands of Renault UK’s prime audience, the UK car buying public. So exhibiting and added value activity around Renault UK’s participation fits its marketing requirements perfectly, allowing the company to display of a wide selection of its vehicles to a large car-interested audience.
Brand Communications Manager, Mark Waller’s expectations were “to build on the success of the 2006 show, which it did” as 472,300 people visited the show a rise of 14%.
Waller continues “I’m in the business of promoting our present range as well as new products and am bound to explore every possible promotional channel available. The great benefits that live event marketing delivers, when compared to other channels, are that we have delivered to us thousands of ‘car people’ that can immediately experience our products first hand. They can sit in them, play with them, explore them and compare them to the competition, this is not possible in any other genre. We presented vehicles on our stand in support of our wider new launch activity, incorporating the British International Motor Show into Renault UK’s wider marketing strategy.”
As with all business activity SMART objectives should be set and results measured. Among targets by Renault UK were ‘qualified leads generated’ a target which Waller is pleased to say was exceeded. He continues, “the show allowed people not only to experience the Renault brand, but also to appreciate other aspects of the company that they may not get the chance to see in a dealership. In my opinion, live event marketing is very important to our overall marketing strategy, although along with every route to market, activity is likely to decrease with budget cuts in this poor economic climate."
So what advice would Waller give to others? “Choose the event carefully is my number one tip. Targeting is very important, so make sure you ask the right questions of the organisers before you sign up and don’t commit to an event if the show’s demographics don’t match yours. If you are trying to reach a very wide and diverse audience, then select another more appropriate event.” He concludes, “for us at Renault UK, live event marketing is very important and most certainly adds value to our brand in a way that other media simply cannot.”
