Bentley EXP100GT Concept
Centenary Brand Recalibration
Recalibrating Bentley’s brand with a centenary voice of customer program
Challenge
How do you shift the needle on heritage perception with a voice of customer program?
When communicating the journeys of tomorrow to a next gen audience of life achievers, Niki realised communication is not only what the brand says, but also what the target audience hears and adopts. This insight reframed the Bentley Centenary EXP100GT campaign as a voice of customer program rather than merely a one-way brand broadcast.
Insight
Can listening to the audience’s response force a board-level reconsideration of brand strategy and resource allocation?
Letting down the brand’s guard and treating the audience as an active participant, we optimised the narrative for reception rather than just transmission. This caused a fundamental strategic shift from ‘showing the car’ to ‘showing the audience’s reaction’. Brandwatch conversation monitoring let us measure brand sentiment live and calibrate mid-campaign messaging.
This voice of consumer feedback loop applied to social media marketing in the automotive industry resulted in an 18.5% lift in positive brand sentiment and a Silver DMA Award for Best Launch Campaign.
Brand
Bentley
Industry
Automotive
Sustainability
Skills
Voice of Customer Program
Conversation Analysis
Brand Sentiment Measurement
Strategic Partnerships
Brand Equity
Led by
Niki McMorrough
Collaborators
Pirelli
Hand and Lock
Cumbria Crystal
Gainsborough Weaving
Grosvenor Wilton
Locations
CW1 House
Salon Privé
Blenheim Palace
Channels
Brandwatch
The DMA
Voice of customer program results: brand sentiment, audience posts and a Silver DMA Award for Bentley
96.4%
Positive sentiment
EXP100GT mentions
24,708
Audience posts
Using official hashtags #exp100gt #bentleyexp100gt #Bentley100Years
Ranked World’s 5th most pleasing brand
By Brandwatch in Q4 2018 - alongside top 10 brands including Pixar (2), MTV (4), Moët & Chandon (6) and Yves Saint Laurent (10).
Silver DMA Award
‘Best Launch Campaign’
Beating Boots, Alexa & Coca-Cola
21%
Increase in brand mentions
Relating to innovation, sustainability & collaboration
+18.5%
increase in positive brand mentions
Compared to previous 3 months
Questions worth answering
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It’s a structured way of listening to how your audience actually receives your brand, then calibrating in real time. If your campaigns feel like they should be landing harder than they are, let’s look at what your audience is telling you.
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Yes. Evidence that certain messages cost more to land changes the boardroom conversation from preference to performance. It turns brand broadcast into measurable dialogue. If you’re defending your marketing budget upstairs, let’s talk about how to build that case.
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We track social, forums and the wider open web, which is increasingly the source material AI engines cite. Your reputation lives in those spontaneous mentions. If your brand is drifting beyond your own platforms, let's have a conversation.