Borders Vintage Automobile Club met up with me and asked me one question; This is how much we spent promoting our Historic Motoring Extravaganza last year, what would you do with the same budget?

Despite having a 38-year history, the Historic Motoring Extravaganza had no brand presence and no brand positioning.

I proposed positioning the event as the perfect family day out. The strapline: ‘Scotland’s family friendly vintage car show’ was introduced. So too was an event mascot: an animated classic car called Vinty. Vinty (animated in the same style as the Pixar Cars films) instantly gave the event a child-friendly personality.

BVAC’s existing club website was too focused on classic car enthusiasts to portray the right personality for this one-day event, so Vinty was given its own website, its own Facebook page and its own Twitter account.

As in previous years, traditional newspaper advertising was also used. A new media schedule was adopted: radio advertising, leaflets, posters, and roadside banners were also produced. Email marketing and PR were implemented, …all with great effect.

BVAC enjoyed its most highly attended event in its 39-year history, up 26% on the previous year and up 8% on the previous highest attended event. After the weather pretty much washed out the following year’s event, the next year’s Extravaganza recorded another record high for paying visitors (up 14.3%).

The campaign won ‘Marketing Campaign of the Year’ at the Scottish Borders Business Excellence Awards.