Insight
Traditional, conservative and old fashioned; once a quintessentially British classic, Bentley was losing its spark. There is no doubt that Bentley offers an unparalleled luxury experience; whether it’s the beauty of the paintwork, the crisp smell of the supple hand-stitched leather interior or the satisfying sound of the key as it slides into the ignition.
For many though, the brand had lost the emotion and passion that once made it so iconic. Online, bloggers were asking: “Where’s the spark? When was the last time Bentley did anything worth getting excited about?”
An old-fashioned image was attracting older buyers. Bentley’s mature customer base did not reflect what was happening in the luxury market. A new breed was emerging: young, extremely wealthy car buyers hungry for unique experiences.
Put simply, it needed to stop talking to Prince Charles and instead, speak to Prince Harry and his wealthy friends: a group of independent, ambitious and technologically engaged trendsetters.
Strategy
When it came to solving Bentley’s image problem PHD knew it had to change decades of ingrained media habits; it was a case of go big or go home.
So, for the first time ever, the agency steered Bentley away from niche, classic car magazines and partnered with a powerful, young consumer brand: GQ - the most successful title in the men’s upscale publishing market. GQ’s scale (presence in key markets UK, China, US, Germany and Russia) and it’s forward facing approach to fashion and luxury would help PHD express Bentley’s new vision to a young, wealthy Prince Harry-esque audience. GQ’s portfolio of products (strong digital and mobile assets as well as the magazine itself) would ensure that tech savvy prospects could engage with Bentley content in a variety of formats on their device of choice.
Execution
Together, Bentley created a 24-page bespoke supplement filled with inspiring content, exploring the new rules of modern luxury. Released within GQ’s June issue, “GQ Deluxe” content was focused around three subjects: Luxury Destinations, Objects of Desire and the New Connoisseurs.
The printed edition hit newsagent shelves on May 2, 2013 with enhancements and added interactive functions bringing the content alive through the tablet edition at the same time.
A Bentley “New Luxury” hub was created online, running within the GQ site for three months. The hub hosted selected content from the print supplement and highlighted the unique personalisation experience offered by Bentley. A bespoke online video created by GQ showed the Bentley factory and personal touches available to tailor your very own Bentley. Online display across the GQ.com platform drove visitors to the hub, while presence on both Bentley and GQ’s social media channels further fuelled engagement through a share functionality and links to the Bentley site.
Results
The campaign objective was to deliver high engagement levels, generate visibility for the brand and get conversations started with a younger audience which is exactly what was achieved.
The target audience have been busy searching for more information. In the UK, 1 in 10 who visited the hub clicked through to explore the Bentley site. The quality of the content meant that people were super engaged, with the average visitor spending 1.38 minutes on the hub (vs a luxury brand benchmark of 54 seconds). Over 54,000 have watched the bespoke video – equivalent to the capacity of the Olympic Stadium! Crucially, the content was something that people wanted to share, achieving 10,000 likes and shares across Facebook and Twitter.
An additional 50,000 reprints were distributed to Bentley’s global dealership network to introduce the new luxury experience to potential buyers. All in all the campaign was triumphant and with success across all of its key markets, Bentley’s new luxury message has now reached 17 million key prospects – an exponential shift in coverage versus previous campaigns!
