New Citroën Ë- C4 launch: supercharging local marketing

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.

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.