Pro Awards Hall Of Fame: Best Use of Direct Media, Best Activity Generating Brand Loyalty
Campaign: Camp Jeep
Agency: PentaMark Worldwide, Southfield, MI
Client: DamilerChrysler, Auburn Hills, MI
For the first time in seven years, it rained on Camp Jeep this summer. Even the weather has been cooperative.
Since its inception, DaimlerChrysler’s annual owner festival has developed into the hallmark of loyalty campaigns, an affinity-building event that gives owners a forum to live the brand essence. This is the third straight year in which Camp Jeep has earned at least one pro Award — despite the fact that the agency handling the campaign has undergone a couple of transformations. (PentaMark was formed by BBDO Worldwide in late 2000 to exclusively handle the consolidated DaimlerChrysler account.)
Despite the changes, “the same people have been running it since Day One,” says PentaMark senior vp Bruce Clayton. “Our relationship with [the client, including camp founder and Jeep direct marketing manager Lou Bitonti] is one of the reasons why we believe this is a benchmark.”
Promo agrees, which is why Camp Jeep last month became the first inductee into the pro Awards Hall of Fame — a program established in part to give special recognition to this campaign.
“It’s an exit barrier for the brand,” says Clayton. Now, it has become an entrance lure as well: The concept has become so strong, and the event so popular, DaimlerChrysler used it this fall as a purchase incentive for a dealer campaign.
The effort has received so much press that the details should be ingrained in the minds of all promotion marketers. The goal is to get a couple of thousand Jeep owners (2,300 this year) to pay a few hundred bucks to drive their Jeeps to a three-day camping festival. Programmed using feedback from past attendees, the event offers hundreds of activities that speak to owner lifestyles both inside (numerous off-roading opportunities) and outside (sports, crafts, music) the vehicle.
Working with a smaller budget this year, PentaMark again improved efficiency by combining direct mail, e-mail, and cross-promotion in the brand’s Jeep Provisions owner catalog to hit the attendance mark while sending fewer invitations. “Most of the registrations came through the [dedicated] Web site,” says Jeep events marketing manager Jean Bolz. In the future, “we’re hoping we won’t have to send out invitations at all,” she laughs.
Lightning forced the camp to be evacuated the first day. But attendees came back the next morning despite continued rain. “They participated in all the activities. Jeep owners are such a breed of their own,” says Bolz.
This campaign is a breed of its own as well.
