Lotus gears up for Evora campaign

Lotus Cars UK has appointed agency EMO to deliver quality test drive prospects for its Evora model. Using highly targeted media partnerships, as well as digital and social media activity, the programme of activity also aims to maximise consumer reach and engagement.
As the focus of the campaign, the agency has created the Lotus Champion competition through an exclusive affinity partnership with Dennis Publishing’s Evo magazine, title dedicated to high performance cars.
In addition to promoting the competition, Evo is also provide Lotus with editorial, rather than advertorial, space, adding credibility to both the brand and the promotion.
The Lotus Champion competition gives one driving enthusiast the chance to win a supercharged Lotus Evora S for a year and become a guest correspondent for Evo magazine.
As Lotus Champion, the winner will be invited to share their experiences with Evo readers in a special new editorial feature titled, The Lotus Diaries, as well as take part in a series of Lotus-themed adventures, including trips to racetracks, track days and driver training.
The campaign kicks off in the August issue of Evo. Over six months, the Evo editorial team will write a number of features, building awareness of the competition and why readers should enter, creating profiles of the finalists and ultimately revealing the Lotus Champion.
Initial editorial will drive Evo readers to enter the competition via a microsite – lotusdiaries.evo.co.uk/ – and supported by online advertising throughout the competition on the Evo website. The microsite, designed to encourage user engagement, will act as community board, keeping readers up to date as the competition unfolds as well inviting users to comment and upload their own content.
Subscribers to the microsite are asked to provide key profile data such as age, what car they currently drive etc. and demonstrate their passion for performance cars. The Lotus dealers will be key to the campaign’s success and be tasked with following up all leads to ensure entrants come away having had a positive experience of the Lotus brand at local level.
Entrants who have taken a test drive submit a road test review of their experience on the microsite to show their knowledge of performance cars and demonstrate their writing skills as a potential guest correspondent for Evo.
The 20 finalists selected by the EVO editorial team are invited to the finale, an event day in September, at the new track in Hethel. Post event, five contestants will be shortlisted and then interviewed by Evo to test their journalistic credentials and expert knowledge of sports cars. The winner will be announced in December.
Lotus Cars UK corporate marketing operations manager Chris Anderson said: “EMO’s approach is very thorough – they make it their business to understand our brand and our customer. Their strategy gives our dealer network confidence that quality leads will be delivered and meaningful relationships established. The creation of the Lotus Champion programme is new territory for us, and we’re looking forward to seeing where it will take us.”
EMO managing director Nick Davies added: “We’ve devised a campaign that leverages the power of word of mouth – understanding that if the best way to appreciate a Lotus is get behind the wheel, then the second is to hear first-hand from someone who has. The empowerment of community voices – not just at street level but also virtual and social, in this case, a community of discerning drivers – drives decision making and change. ‘Lotus Champion’ is a campaign that the dealer network can really get behind as well.”