RPM Reporter: Goodwood Festival of Speed

I pulled up in a taxi just as the Goodwood Air Show was kicking off with a huge Vulcan thundering through the air, continuing to do a loop the loop through the sky. What a dramatic scene for a dramatic festival, which offered all the furore of F1 mixed with the authenticity of vintage cars and the vigour of dust-destroying rally racing.

Brands relevant to Goodwood's car-loving, thrill-seeking audience were ready to jump on the bandwagon, with Skoda, Johnnie Walker, Nissan and Red Bull all hosting experiential areas; some excellent, and some fairly disappointing. Red Bull, for example, was placed right in a corner in which a DJ in a branded jeep played to an empty terrace cushioned by a few grey bean bags. Inside, you were able to play vehicle-themed video games, but in general there was a real lack of an original consumer experience here, and a serious lack of branding. The terrace was bare except for the jeep and grey bean bags, which certainly wouldn't have been my colour of choice!

The Johnnie Walker Viewing Tower provided some excellent views over the track, and an engaging sampling experience at that. Smartly-dressed Brand Communicators took each and every consumer through the taste experience of drinking Johnnie Walker with strawberries and black pepper and offered all a leaflet to fill out to win a VIP experience at Silverstone racecourse. The stand also provided a smart lounge area with chilled out music, free water and the opportunity to watch Johnnie Walker sampling demos led by a professional. People were queuing up to get to the top of the tower, which provided the best views of the racetrack from two levels. You were only able to go up to the top once you had tasted a sample, which was a smart way to drive trial.

Nissan also had an engaging stand by TRO. The Nissan innovation car was contained within a bespoke unit that lit up, centered by two large screens and viewing platforms. Throughout the day, the stand blasted out loud music and a countdown, after which two dancers would fall from the ceiling and spin themselves around in total symmetry to the circling Nissan wheels projected onto the screens. This was very eye-catching, and the music definitely drew the crowds, yet the dancers were somewhat limited to dance moves able-to-be-completed-when-hanging-from-a-ceiling, and the show lasted for around ten minutes, so it did drag slightly. Other than this, though, there were some nice car displays on the stand, which was spacious enough for consumers to crowd around each car.

Overall, Goodwood Festival of Speed provided the perfect platform for brands to grab the attention of consumers at their most passionate, yet I would have liked to see more experiences offering the consumer a value exchange (a la Johnnie Walker with better and, more importantly, free views of the racetrack) and more consumer-brand interaction.