Bentley’s primary objectives were to build brand awareness, shift brand perception and generate new prospects with an experience that highlighted the commissioning process. Bentley needed a new position as a progressive luxury brand, reaching qualified prospects in an innovative way.

The brand was suffering an image issue. Younger, affluent buyers viewed the brand as more suitable for an older audience.

Bentley’s biggest challenge is that its personalization capabilities were widely unknown and underutilized in the North American market. Without knowing all their (1.3 billion) options, most customers chose cars in stock at the dealership, rather than pursuing the commissioning process.

We improved awareness and perceptions around Bentley’s personalization capabilities.

In the first Studio in New York, 136 vehicles were commissioned and 249 new qualified prospects were connected with dealers, with 54% of those prospects new to the brand. Three other Studios followed in Pebble Beach, Los Angeles and Miami (during Art Basel week). Exact results from these markets are not final, but are consistent with New York’s results.

Initially planned only for North America, the success of the Bentley Studio made other regional offices, especially China and Europe, eager to bring the experience to their markets.

We reinvented the car buying process, making buying a luxury car a luxurious experience that reflected the car’s heritage and bespoke nature. Prospects were invited to pop-up locations and created unique Bentleys through specially created software. At custom designed screens, prospects were shown two side-by-side images and asked to select which appealed to them more. After selecting 20 images, they were guided to the Visionary Experience, a 10’x16’ digital screen where their personal selections were mapped across four design/aesthetic matrices. Onsite Bentley designers then turned the screen selections and choices into a custom designed Bentley, unique just to that person.

Our target, the “New Luxury” ultra-high net worth audience, has sophisticated, elusive buying behaviors. We had to create an engagement that went beyond showcasing quality and performance and leveraged their passions. They aren’t impressed by what’s available to anyone—they value personalization, appreciate rare skills, materials, processes and novel uses of new technology.

To create a lasting bond with our target, we needed to show that Bentley understood them. We needed to connect with them through a luxurious personalization process that didn’t follow conventions. We needed to show them what they were missing—their own bespoke Bentley, unlike any other.