This year I was lucky enough to visit Windsor Horse Show. I love horses and was lucky to grow up with these beautiful animals, I consider myself to be a horse woman although I don’t currently own one or ride as regularly as I would like. Windsor Horse Show is an amazing event and one I have been to for the last 10yrs or so, it has gone from strength to strength and it struck me whilst I was there that Land Rover have taken out a sponsorship every year for as long as I can remember. So the sponsorship must be working for them, right? As each year their presence at the show has got bigger and better.
I wanted to share this great example of a brand doing sponsorship well, for small businesses we often overlook this as a route to market. No doubt the budget that they invest has to be significant, to accurately reflect the Land Rover brand. I wold love to be a fly on the wall in their marketing meeting when they review the impact of this event and similar others, on their brand and how it performed for them, I can only guess it continues to be successful.
So what activity do they do?
The activity that Land Rover implement at the show is significant, unquestionably it ties into what I imagine is their target audience, my perception of their target audience is a perfect fit. They have a stand at the show which is beautiful and a great opportunity to show case their latest cars.
The Land Rover Stand at Windsor Horse Show.
You also have the opportunity to trial one of their cars over an amazing assult course, I am sure you are not allowed to drive for insurance purposes but the experience demonstrates the capablitites of the cars.
This experiential activity of the brand, combined with more tactical boards around the arena and ads in the programme will help to drive awareness, engagement and I am sure ultimately sales for them.
Windsor Horse Show Programme – Land Rover Sponsorship
This activity complimented with a remote control version of land rover and a members enclosure, with complimentary coffee, tea and a bacon sandwhich. which you gained entry by your car keys, completed the whole customer experience. I am sure that the social media and internal maketing channels also helped to support and drive awareness of the show, plus drive ticket sales.
Land Rover Sponsorship – Car Owners Area
The overall impact was extremely positive and you could see how this would encourage you to add Land Rover to your brand consideration set for your next car purchase.
How could you track results?
This is a great question and one which can be quite tricky but never the less a really important one. There are the obvious things like social media engagement, email engagement, website visitors and of course direct sales or leads generated from the show.
But in addition to these metrics they would I imagine have also been brand awareness, perception and consideration tracking which is more difficult to quantify as it is bsed on conducting some qualitative research. No question that this kind of activity would have helped to move the needle for Land Rover.
How can we apply these learnings for a small business?
In conclusion, this activity would undoubtably have been effective for Land Rover, otherwise they would not continue with their show sponsorship over the last 10yrs or so. So, what learnings can we take from this experience for a small business, as most do not have the significant budgets to achieve something on this scale. There is no question that sponsorship does definitely have its place in the marketing mix, but the results may not necessarily be around sales/ revenue but more around awareness and perception, the sales will come later. You need to ensure that your harvest media are working to capture any potential business. The exposure that this kind of sponsorship activity would generate is significant and definitely worth considering, if you get an event perfectly aligned to your target audience it definitely helps achieve your long term goals.
If you would like some help in identifying sponsorship opportunities for your business please get in touch to arrange your free 60-minute consultation.
