Cullen Communications - Our Work
Sponsorships
Continental Irish Car of the Year Award
Before... Room set-up for the 2010 Continental Irish Car of the Year Awards, which took place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dublin.
Continental Irish Car of the Year Award
Client: Continental Tyres
Background
The Continental Irish Car of the Year Award (formerly Semperit Irish Car of the Year) is Ireland’s most prestigious automotive accolade. Designed to recognise the best new car / van launched in Ireland annually, the awards are voted for by the Irish Motoring Writers Association (IMWA).
The event takes place over lunch in late November each year and is attended by more than 200 key personnel from the Irish automotive industry and the motoring press.
The Irish Car of the Year Award was first held in 1978; Cullen Communications has been managing the sponsorship since 1999; the 2010 awards event marked the changeover of sponsorship from Semperit to Continental.
Objectives
Oversee a change of sponsor and ensure a sense of freshness with a successful, long-running awards format.
Generate positive media coverage for the Awards and for Continental as main sponsor; generate associated publicity for the award-winners and for the IMWA.
Position the awards as a must-attend event on the Irish automotive calendar.
Provide an enjoyable and valuable networking opportunity for Continental with two key audiences: the automotive industry (a mix of existing and potential customers) and the motoring media.
Strategy
A new communications strategy featuring the new trophy – on all pre-event literature and at the venue – was designed to reinforce the change of branding.
The awards ceremony took place at the Crowne Plaza, Santry; MC for the event was Michael Sheridan, a member of the IMWA; all speeches were carefully prepared to convey the change of sponsorship.
A big-bang reveal of the winning car was central to the format, with suspense maintained right up to the last moment. Photocall with guest speaker and top model – this was the shot that we then circulated to media.
Evaluation
The event received widespread TV, radio and press coverage, with more than 200 articles featuring the awards or mentions of the winning vehicles.
The tone of the coverage was overwhelmingly positive.
All winners of the main car and van awards, and the associated category awards, integrated the award logo (which includes the Continental logo) into their advertising and PR activity for the model year 2008.
“Car of the Year is a hugely important reflection of the Continental brand in Ireland and so we require that the event is professionally run and enjoyable for the attendees. Consistently over the last 10 years, Cullen Communications has managed and organised the awards event with a huge amount of professionalism, imagination and attention to detail, ensuring the event is an absolute ‘must’ for the key personnel from the motor industry and the motoring journalists”. - - Continental Tyres
