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Citroën

Supercharging local marketing

A guide to a successful launch.
Introducing the New ë-C4.

The launch of a new model is always an exciting time in the world of automotive. Even more so when it is your first 100% electric product like the New Citroën ë-C4. Detailed planning goes into every stage – product, pricing, national comms, PR - but how do you ensure this precise detail and effort cascades all the way down to local level, where the purchase is made?


As experts in activating global and national campaigns at a local level, We Are Acuity are well versed in helping brands and retail outlets work in partnership to ensure consistency and a frictionless journey for the most important party in all this detail – the customer.

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A guide to a successful new Electric Vehicle launch | Work | We Are Acuity
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Challenge

New Citroën ë-C4 was unveiled in September 2020, but the physical product would not arrive and launch in the UK until February 2021. A gap of almost 5 months. Naturally, the retailer network would be excited to start promoting the new model. So while the brand would be active in this 5 month period, drip feeding out relevant information to early hand raisers and existing customers, our role was to ensure there was also a comprehensive plan for the retailer network. And as this was the first 100% electric vehicle for Citroën, we needed to move the pre-launch conversation away from price and tactical campaigns, to include charging times, range and answer those customer anxiety questions around electric vehicle ownership.

Insight

Experience told us we needed a communications strategy in place with the network, providing them with regular updates, simple actions and the right level of information. Otherwise, it is all too easy for local retailers to go off piste and do their own thing (to the detriment of the national approach).


And let’s remember, this model launched in the middle of a global pandemic. Within the retailer network this meant that many marketing contacts were furloughed, and marketing budgets were at a premium. With the potential that marketing skills and knowledge were not currently available to our retailers we had to make it easy. Added to this, periods of national and regional lockdown would see showrooms closed, making the retailers digital real estate crucial to raising local awareness and interest in New Citroën ë-C4.


Clear advice, no jargon, manageable actions and leveraging brand activity were the order of the day.

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Solution

Working in collaboration with our Citroën client, our Client Services team set about strategic planning for the period between unveil in September 2020 and launch in February 2021. This activity included:


• Understanding the key brand milestones.
• Identifying central materials relevant for adaption and local use, to maximise budgets.
• Making retailers part of the brand journey, via local promotion of national activity, such as virtual shows and social media events.
• Regularly refreshing messaging in retailer advertising materials as we moved from pre-launch to launch.
• Ensuring retailers had the required support to go live in all relevant digital channels.
• Compiling a comprehensive launch guide for retailers, detailing brand plans, target audience, key competitors, and essential local marketing activity.

This strategic planning work was brought to life by the We Are Acuity studio team, delivering effective and relevant materials to the Citroën network at a time when they needed it most.

Results

As of February 2021, dealer engagement with this activity stands at 86%, with our simple, clear advice leading to over 600 marketing materials downloads since October 2020. Not only were we able to drive engagement in the network, but we also kept them ‘on brand’, active in relevant channels and ensured local and national communications were consistent. Job done.

 

If you’d like to talk about your brand’s local marketing why not schedule a FREE 30-minute assessment today here? It will be well worth your time.

Or alternatively read more about Local Marketing on our blog page "Local Thinking': https://www.weareacuity.com/local-thinking-our-blog