Summary
Vauxhall Trade Club is a trade parts programme selling genuine parts from Vauxhall dealers to the independent repairer. It is an established, successful and profitable programme operating for 20 years. In the previous year sales had remained static and research identified a need to change the way Trade Club was promoted, and move away from a price and discount-led proposition.
At the time of the change (2010) there were a variety of challenges facing Vauxhall Trade Club, ranging from the economic climate to the speedy pace of change within the industry. Vauxhall wanted to move the focus away from price and competitive discounts on a few key products while re-establishing growth in market share.
Palmer Hargreaves’ “3D” brand development tool was used to examine and agree a new Trade Club point of difference, establishing that Vauxhall must place the customer at the heart of their business and provide a superior quality programme. Vauxhall are a business that other businesses aspire to work with and are an approachable partner. These values had to be promoted in a communications programme. A creative brief was written and a new identity was born, followed by an aggressive communications plan announcing the rebirth of Vauxhall Trade Club.
The Client
General Motors UK Limited (Vauxhall)
Strategy
The team at Palmer Hargreaves worked with Vauxhall to develop a brand strategy to maximise Trade Club’s opportunities for growth and differentiation in a crowded marketplace. Using Palmer Hargreaves’ “3D” internal branding tool, including customer research, questionnaires and workshops it was established: what this long term strategy for Trade Club should be, what the customer looks like, what the current offer is, and potentially could be, what are the values and personality that would need to be developed, the competition, what is the at the core of all Trade Clubs actions.
The ever-growing presence of the motor factor (the main competitor to Trade Club) is a key issue for and threat to Trade Club. The Factor increasingly offers a product which is directly competitive at a cheaper price, in some cases even using loss leaders to ensure the sale. Trade Club have traditionally used price as a way into the market, and this ground has been lost. The Factor however is not just winning on price, but is becoming increasingly sophisticated in areas such as deliveries, visits, incentives – really forcing key players in Trade Club to ask ‘what ground is there left to fight on?’
Through the 3D workshops, it was established that Vauxhall wanted to reposition Trade Club as the best place to buy parts for a Vauxhall car and not just the cheapest place to buy them. Trade Club had to be focused on value, with a wider range of benefits such as service, partnership and technical support. By doing this customers believe Trade Club has a wider and more appropriate offer to their business in the long term.
A new vision was agreed: ‘Vauxhall Trade Club is to be the first and only consideration when repairing a Vauxhall vehicle’. This new strategy allowed the creative to be more contemporary, moving away from the outdated style of ‘parts’ photography, a discounted price and a list of application data. The new proposition meant looking different, having a different tone of voice and talking about what makes Trade Club an asset to customers.
Objectives
- Redefine the meaning of Trade Club
- Develop a new brand and position for Vauxhall Trade Club to help drive them to maintain their position as the first and best trade club
- Improve communications to deliver these messages on an ongoing basis
- Generate awareness, discussion and let members, dealers, the industry and competitors know that Vauxhall Trade Club are back, new and improved
- Increase awareness
- Increase sales to existing live and lapsed customers
- Maximise Trade Clubs opportunities for growth and differentiation in a crowded market place by updating an old image.
The target audience
There were a number of audiences for Vauxhall Trade Club as there was both an internal and external focus. The primary audience is the independent motor mechanic. They are owners/managers at independent garages who repair and service a wide range of vehicles including Vauxhall cars, and have a requirement to fit Vauxhall parts.
The Trade Club audience is comprised of savvy businessmen, trustworthy, looking to build genuine relationships with their own customers to ensure longevity and profitability. The softer aspects of customer service are not a key strength, but they do provide value for money and a fast reliable service. They are looking for value but that doesn’t always mean the cheapest, this audience know better than anyone that you get what you pay for. They are in many cases larger businesses with multiple outlets – not the stereotypical ‘Phil and Grant under the arches’.
The secondary audience was an internal audience within the dealer network. Historically dealers had been supportive of the trade programme, but the research revealed that dealers felt the marketing communications had become tired and didn’t reflect the offer and service they provided.
Media channels/techniques
GM TO RETAILER
– quarterly marketing support pack – letter
– poster – mailer
– marketing samples – new website
– Retailer price list
GM TO MEMBER
– awareness mailer
– new website
– Trade Book (catalogue)
RETAILER TO MEMBER
– quarterly offers and incentive
– 1 page ‘specials’
– Trade press advertising and PR
Timescale
Twelve-month campaign – launched in Q3 2010 and still running today, in Q3 2011.
Client testimonial
“We now feel we have a brand, which reflects the comprehensive product we offer and one which we are very proud of. It was time to give Vauxhall Trade Club a look which matched the professionalism provided by the programme.
“We can see the impact on our sales with improvements overall, but also on our competitors – with an increase in discussions in the trade press as to the merits of trade programmes, as well as a renewed commitment from our dealer network.
“The last 12 months have been our best yet in terms of sales and we are confident that our re-brand contributed significantly to this.”
Clifford Walpole Trade Programme Manager UK