INDY CAR DEALER USES WELL-KNOWN SYMBOL
TO BRIGHTEN BODY SHOP WAITING ROOM
TO BRIGHTEN BODY SHOP WAITING ROOM
(Indianapolis, IN) --- It's understandable if people are a bit on edge when they bring their damaged vehicle to a collision repair center. They're worried whether "baby" will ever be the same. And how much it's going to take, in time and money, before "baby" comes home. Though they're hoping for the best, they're expecting the worst. And they may still be unsettled by the unexpected event that's brought them to this point.
Pedigo Chevrolet, a General Motors dealership in Indianapolis, IN, understands the customers' angst. They recognize that nobody wants to spend much time in their estimating area . . . just as nobody wants to spend much time in a doctor's reception area. So they recently took steps to make their body shop a kinder, friendlier place. Call it good marketing.
It was Bob Drake, Pedigo's body shop manager, who came up with a redecorating idea that would blend a rainbow into a theme well-recognized in this auto racing haven: the famous paint scheme of the #24 NASCAR Winston Cup race car driven by Jeff Gordon that sports the brightly colored DuPont logo.
The concept was a stroke of marketing genius. For one, the Indy 500 Speedway (the "Brickyard") is a major part of the local culture and stands just a mile or so from Pedigo Chevrolet. Secondly, Jeff Gordon, being an Indiana native, is a favorite in these parts. And thirdly, Pedigo uses DuPont Automotive Refinish products in its collision repairs.
"In fact, we're on board DuPont's AOQ program," notes Drake. (AOQ stands for Assurance of Quality; it's a special program available to dealers who meet certain criteria and who in return receive a package of benefits, including business development tools and techniques, management systems, marketing skills and services, and merchandising support materials.)
"So, since we're here in Indy, and with Jeff Gordon and his #24 car being so popular here, and the car sporting the DuPont rainbow logo, it all came together for me.
"I contacted the DuPont people to see if they offered industrial-grade equivalent paint that we could redecorate our estimating area floors and walls with, and they introduced me to their High Performance Coatings Division."
Drake was referred to Tom Westell of Westek Corp., a DuPont High Performance Coatings distributor in Indianapolis, who assured him that DuPont HPC epoxies could match the #24 car's colors.
"We worked closely together for a period of about 30 days," recalls Westell. "We made sure we got correct matches for the electric blue and the Maui blue colors, and the yellows and greens of the rainbow in the DuPont HPC Corlar 24P.
"We had a decal of the DuPont logo made, and that was laid down after the base coat and the Maui blue. Then we immediately encapuslated this with DuPont's water-borne clear coat IMRON® III."
So now, people pulling into the entrance bay of Pedigo's body shop are immediately confronted with a floor patterned after the Jeff Gordon race car, bright blue with rainbow stripes and the red oval with "DuPont" inside it.
"It catches your eye right away because there's a lot of color to it," adds Drake. "Customers are really impressed . . . they say they've never seen anything like it. It has the right atmosphere. In fact we also use that room ourselves for monthly parts and service meetings!"
A good marketing concept makes the customer favorable to buying your product or service. An even better concept makes them happy afterward that they did. Pedigo Chevrolet is finding the new floor scheme is having that effect, too.
"We recently fixed a Corvette that had extensive damage, a special edition Speedway car," recalls Drake. "And we delivered it to the customer inside our 'DuPont room'. It made the car really stand out and looked very professional. We took photos of the customer with his beautifully refinished car. He told me the car looked better than when he bought it new! Sometimes we'll put a cover over the car until the customer arrives, and then we'll unveil it kind of dramatically. That really impresses people!"
The new motif has proven so successful that Pedigo is thinking about extending it into its body shop areas. It's also created a bit of notoriety in Indy.
"Word got around," says Westell, the DuPont distributor, "and as a result of this job, we've done a similar job for another local company, Automotive Color & Supply, in an area where they hold auto body painting classes. But this time, we used a stencil of their logo."
It doesn't take very long for a good marketing idea to catch on.
Pedigo Chevrolet, a General Motors dealership in Indianapolis, IN, understands the customers' angst. They recognize that nobody wants to spend much time in their estimating area . . . just as nobody wants to spend much time in a doctor's reception area. So they recently took steps to make their body shop a kinder, friendlier place. Call it good marketing.
It was Bob Drake, Pedigo's body shop manager, who came up with a redecorating idea that would blend a rainbow into a theme well-recognized in this auto racing haven: the famous paint scheme of the #24 NASCAR Winston Cup race car driven by Jeff Gordon that sports the brightly colored DuPont logo.
The concept was a stroke of marketing genius. For one, the Indy 500 Speedway (the "Brickyard") is a major part of the local culture and stands just a mile or so from Pedigo Chevrolet. Secondly, Jeff Gordon, being an Indiana native, is a favorite in these parts. And thirdly, Pedigo uses DuPont Automotive Refinish products in its collision repairs.
"In fact, we're on board DuPont's AOQ program," notes Drake. (AOQ stands for Assurance of Quality; it's a special program available to dealers who meet certain criteria and who in return receive a package of benefits, including business development tools and techniques, management systems, marketing skills and services, and merchandising support materials.)
"So, since we're here in Indy, and with Jeff Gordon and his #24 car being so popular here, and the car sporting the DuPont rainbow logo, it all came together for me.
"I contacted the DuPont people to see if they offered industrial-grade equivalent paint that we could redecorate our estimating area floors and walls with, and they introduced me to their High Performance Coatings Division."
Drake was referred to Tom Westell of Westek Corp., a DuPont High Performance Coatings distributor in Indianapolis, who assured him that DuPont HPC epoxies could match the #24 car's colors.
"We worked closely together for a period of about 30 days," recalls Westell. "We made sure we got correct matches for the electric blue and the Maui blue colors, and the yellows and greens of the rainbow in the DuPont HPC Corlar 24P.
"We had a decal of the DuPont logo made, and that was laid down after the base coat and the Maui blue. Then we immediately encapuslated this with DuPont's water-borne clear coat IMRON® III."
So now, people pulling into the entrance bay of Pedigo's body shop are immediately confronted with a floor patterned after the Jeff Gordon race car, bright blue with rainbow stripes and the red oval with "DuPont" inside it.
"It catches your eye right away because there's a lot of color to it," adds Drake. "Customers are really impressed . . . they say they've never seen anything like it. It has the right atmosphere. In fact we also use that room ourselves for monthly parts and service meetings!"
A good marketing concept makes the customer favorable to buying your product or service. An even better concept makes them happy afterward that they did. Pedigo Chevrolet is finding the new floor scheme is having that effect, too.
"We recently fixed a Corvette that had extensive damage, a special edition Speedway car," recalls Drake. "And we delivered it to the customer inside our 'DuPont room'. It made the car really stand out and looked very professional. We took photos of the customer with his beautifully refinished car. He told me the car looked better than when he bought it new! Sometimes we'll put a cover over the car until the customer arrives, and then we'll unveil it kind of dramatically. That really impresses people!"
The new motif has proven so successful that Pedigo is thinking about extending it into its body shop areas. It's also created a bit of notoriety in Indy.
"Word got around," says Westell, the DuPont distributor, "and as a result of this job, we've done a similar job for another local company, Automotive Color & Supply, in an area where they hold auto body painting classes. But this time, we used a stencil of their logo."
It doesn't take very long for a good marketing idea to catch on.