HR Owen overhauls marketing

Luxury car retailer HR Owen is to launch a CRM platform alongside a new logo, website and customer magazine as part of an overhaul of its brand and business strategy designed to continue a recent uplift in sales.

HR Owen to overhaul marketing
HR Owen to overhaul marketing

It is in the process of building a CRM platform that will allow it to create personalised customer communications messages whereas it has previously relied on a generic monthly newsletter and communications.

As part of the efforts to improve customer relationships, HR Owen is also launching its first monthly customer magazine. The print title, Drive, will launch in October to build a closer relationship with customers and “being the brand to life” through lifestyle content.

The luxury dealership, which specialises in high end marques such as Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini and Ferrari, has also redesigned its logo and launched a new website including videos and virtual tours of all its vehicles as part of a new group wide strategy introduced a year ago.

It was developed to create a consistent brand message across multiple touch points including dealerships, CRM, digital platforms and direct mail after the group realised that as a brand HR Owen was “pretty invisible”.

Chris Harris, a former Nokia marketing director who joined HR Owen as the group’s first marketing director in October last year told Marketing Week: “”At the heart of our business – and it sounds like a cliche – are customer relationships. We don’t do print or TV advertising. We know 12,000 of the UK’s wealthiest people and they are passionate about cars. We want to be where they are.”

“Realising that our customers are petrol heads was a real turning point in thinking about relevant and more interesting communications and events,” he adds.

HR Owen has increased its marketing budget by 50% over the past year, including a “significant” increase in digital spend, and will continue to increase investment.

The group has also appointed former digital consultant Ian Ayliffe as its first head of digital to drive the growth of its digital platforms and use of data.

The business has shrunk since the onset of the recession in 2008, which hit car manufacturers and dealerships hard, but reported a 10% rise in sales and a 24% increase in pre-tax profit in the

HR Owen worked with Calling Brands o the brand design.

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