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Bristol Harbour Festival and city slopes put to test by Smart

Bristol Harbour Festival attracted the attention of several notable brand and agency teams who used the full City as their audience and backdrop. The free to attend Festival attracted 250,000 visitors in 2010 and the website is anticipating record numbers for 2011 for an event which benefited from sunny weather.

The city Council’s excellent knowledge of footfall and its variety of zones for entertainment means that brand promotions stand out clearly within each zone and can target specific visitor groups and mindsets.

A popular test drive roadshow for Smart led the way with the brand ambassadors from TRO at a large green stand tucked in between Bristol’s Aquarium and the harbour, an area that crowds milled through in steady numbers on the way to see the Dance performance stage. It was a good location for visitors who wanted to inspect the new Smarts – consistently busy without being overrun and away from the louder stages. The location was all the better chosen for its proximity and road access to Bristol’s steep and windy access to Clifton Downs and the Suspension bridge – perfect for test driving the Smart range.

A gymnastic troop on the Downs put on a unique performance for each driver as they arrived at their secret location, mid way through the test drive. Smart, soon to launch new electric vehicles to its range, was supporting the festival which has received commendation with A Greener Festival Award.

The Smart tour, which has already been to festivals in Edinburgh, Birmingham and Buxton this Summer, will set out to surprise drivers in Southampton and Newcastle in legs five and six of its tour.

TRO’s test driver Mikey told Fieldmarketing.com that he had really enjoyed engaging Smart trialists with the pre-prepared routes as well as creating opportunities to see the vehicles in action via the test drives themselves and guerilla activities that have seen convoys of branded Smart cars taking tour around the cities. “The Bristol course is designed to show allay driver’s preconceptions about power on the steep climbs whilst showing off the vehicles’ benefits in narrow spaces,” he told us. “Test drivers have also consistently been asking about running costs and fuel consumption”, he added, “and the Smart is a great fit for that whilst still being a fun and stylish car. Bristol people seem very attuned to the Green benefits.”

Test drivers were welcomed back to the Smart stand in the city centre with a coffee and a chat about their experience and TRO collected data about the participants.

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