Case Studies

BENTLEY MOTORS

Fields: Case Studies, Lifestyle

EVALUATING THE LUXURY EXPERIENCE

GEARING UP FOR A LONGTERM RELATIONSHIP

 

THE CHALLENGE:

The relationship that owners have with their auto dealer is fundamental to how the brand delivers its values. With a rapidly changing owner base Bentley’s challenge was to understand what their audience really expects from its dealers and, importantly ,which factors they can affect to drive improved customer brand experiences.

OUR APPROACH:

To gauge what a Bentley owner expects we had first to understand how this audience interprets luxury and the demands that they exert in another aspects of their lives. This meant taking a more sociological view of owners’ lives through visual ethnography. This enabled us to build up a detailed picture of how Bentley should benchmark its service levels which we could then measure in more extensive quantitative research.

REDEFINING THE EXPERIENCE OF WHAT LUXURY CAR OWNERSHIP IS TRULY ABOUT:

Extended ethnographic interviews with hi-net worth car drivers enabled us to understand what luxury brand experiences are really about. This allowed us to develop a set of measures about experiences that were less about traditional car and dealer processes and more closely aligned with the luxury experiences that Bentley really competes with (such as luxury travel, club memberships, personal banking and fashion).

POSITIVE OUTCOMES:

By starting to evaluate relationships with customers beyond the traditional measures of dealer service, we were able to help the brand examine
different ways to deepen their relationships with customers in different ways and at specific points in the ownership cycle.

STATS:

QUALITATIVE:

16 ethnographic studies of luxury car drivers in the UK and USA.

QUANTITATIVE:

500 extensive online interviews with Bentley drivers across the UK, USA and China.

UK-Case-Study-Bentley