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Objective of Credit Suisse’s global Classic Car Program strategy was to be considered THE private bank for classic car enthusiasts. This is a target niche market of ultra high net worth individuals
Credit Suisse was a major sponsor of the world’s top classic car events: Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Monaco Historic Races, Goodwood Revival. Credit Suisse also hosts its own private rallies.
For 6 years I was project leader for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, managing a global project team of 5.
This is a 5-day classic car weekend filled with auctions, car shows, social gatherings, races, rallies, and test drives.
Challenge:
Credit Suisse Private Banking gained a lot of ground in developing a following of clients and prospective clients who participated in its private rallies and attended sponsored classic car events in Europe. There were other competitors entering into the scene, so the challenge was to create a marketing campaign showing expertise and dedication to the classic car world, especially in the U.S.
Solution:
I created a marketing campaign to drive our classic car strategy ahead and reach the classic car owners who were prospective clients, and retain those clients who already banked with us.
Researched and executed sponsorship of the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
We put our brand into the hands of 200+ guests who were entrants and judges of the show (wealthy collectors, celebrities, and experts in the classic car world). We created a brochure, gifts; “good luck” letters to entrants; raffle cards for extraordinary prizes – all direct marketing during the weekend.
Our logo was on all the signage, invitations, gift bags, Concours website, and materials.
Enlisted a PR agency to promote our brand in the niche market through digital and print advertising on websites and magazines dedicated to car enthusiasts.
Created social media campaign with videos and news pieces of all the classic car events we sponsored and put them on Facebook, Youtube, and credit-suisse.com. Developed Twitter “scavenger hunt” with hashtag #tiremeetsturf that all show attendees could participate in.
Our guests drove on the Tour d’Elegance in loanedcars in partnership with a luxury automakerwith our branding on them, a public event which garnered a great deal of media attention.
Hired Alain De Cadenet, former race car driver and TV host, as a spokesperson to provide tours to guests, creating an ”insider’s” experience during the long weekend.
Results of 2015 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Sponsorship: $150 Million in net new assets.
Jay Leno and Alain DeCadenet