Blue Bird Wanderlodge, a maker of luxury motorcoaches, has tapped Western Creative Inc. as its new agency of record.
The Wanderlodge brand is trying to reassert its image after splitting from Cerberus Capital Management – the company that recently purchased Chrysler Corp. and which still owns other Blue Bird lines.
“The Blue Bird Wanderlodge brand has become tarnished over the past few years by not being focused on, so our job as an agency is to help that client reassume that mantle of being the best,” Mark Young, chairman of Western Creative said.
“At the same time, there’s also a very strong direct marketing component because we’re selling million dollar coaches – not exactly a mass market item,” continued Young. “So the other side of the strategy is figuring out where the 100 people are who we’re going to have as customers.”
Western Creative’s new campaign for Blue Bird, launched earlier this month, uses the slogan, “The new Blue Bird is coming, 01-01-08.” The teaser campaign includes a microsite, which will be updated throughout the year with pictures and copy detailing new Blue Bird technology.
The firm also will focus on better mapping the Blue Bird customer. Western Creative is sending out surveys to past customers and researching the motorcoach industry.
Blue Bird’s partnership with Western Creative is expected to last long-term; the companies’ agreement includes a promise that the Detroit, MI-based agency will develop multiple Blue Bird campaigns in the future. These campaigns will include print, media planning and placement, video and Internet.
A majority of Western Creative’s clients are consumer packaged goods, including Ocean Potion sun block, Salon Graphix hair products and Nightingale-Conant self-help books. The firm does all of its production in-house, and many of its campaigns involve direct response marketing.
