Holt Lloyd International
How to take a brand beyond sponsorship
Prestone
We’re firm believers that life’s all about balance. For every hour we spend slogging it out at the gym, we need to indulge in those things that help us relax, unwind and enjoy life. And, for thousands of car enthusiasts, the British Rally Championship is right up there. We saw a unique opportunity for our friends at Holt Lloyd International to leverage their Prestone brand, while helping spectators to have an awesome experience in the process.
Interpret + Define
Despite supplying car care products to the global automotive market for almost a century, Holt Lloyd International’s Prestone brand had a low profile in the UK.
Fighting for shelf space in an already overcrowded sector, Holts knew it needed something big to make its range of coolants and screen wash stand out from competitors.
Sponsorship of the MSA British Rally Championship seemed like the perfect fit. As one of the largest spectator sports in the UK, the competition is synonymous with speed, performance and conditions that test drivers to the extremes.
The problem? The sponsorship deal had been done, but how were they going to activate it? They asked us to help them make Prestone the must-have car care brand for the British motorist.
Imagine + Create
Our task was to create a buzz about the brand and drive spectator engagement at each of the seven stages of the competition in Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Belgium and the final in The Isle of Man.
We began with branding, creating a dynamic logo lock-up that gave the Prestone and BRC partnership an identity of its own. This was used across all marketing materials and printed on giveaways to increase visibility on race days.
The new logo appeared on gazebos, banners, flags, race vehicles, clothing, caps and rain ponchos, which were welcomed by spectators in inclement weather during the first leg of the series in the Scottish borders.
To further involve motorsport fans, we set up a full-size rally game simulator at each event, where spectators could test their driving skills on a virtual track. The fastest drivers won a day at a rally driving school, with a VIP experience at Rally GB for the overall winner at the end of the championship.
As well as creating extra excitement on the day, the gamification proved to be excellent for data capture, working in tandem with the Prestone microsite which is home to race information, leaderboards and driver profile videos. We also produced consumer ads to appear in the race programme distributed at events.
Finally, the new joint branding appeared on 5-, 10- and 15-second break bumpers at the start, middle and end of The British Rally Championship Highlights on Channel 4 and BT Sport, ensuring Prestone was seen by an even wider audience.
Rise + Shine
At the end of Round 1, we had already started to see the impact of this brand activation programme.
During February and March 2018, BRC social accounts reached over 39 million people, with Prestone’s targeted content reaching 132,000 fans. The new, dual-branded MSABRC website has had 119,493 unique users since the start of the year with 18,000 video views.
Newspaper and online reach totalled 11,877,557 and our coverage in local press was seen by almost 8 million readers. At the events, we gave away 1000 bottles of screen wash, 650 bottles of coolant, 1000 branded caps and 500 ponchos, making the Prestone brand visible to thousands more.
By the end of the series, Holt Lloyd International met their target of increasing brand awareness by 4%.