With this year's Ultimate Playground Demo Tour, BRP is showcasing its complete product portfolio of Sea-Doo watercraft and boats, Can-Am all-terrain and side-by-side vehicles as well as its unique Can-Am roadsters, Evinrude outboard engines and Ski-Doo snowmobiles.
The tour allows consumers the chance to see the entire BRP lineup in person and take the various vehicles out for a spin.
The four-city tour, says Yves Leduc, VP and GM of BRP's North America division, is an exercise in brand building and brand awareness. The event was launched in 2010 with stops in Quebec City and then in Phoenix, where the company's products aren't as well known, Leduc adds.
"The turnout was great and it became a great generator of leads that were converted into sales for the dealers who participated," he says.
Based on the buzz generated in the first go-around, Leduc says BRP launched the four-location tour for 2011 with plans to expand it even further in years to come. The tour starts in April in Phoenix and then continues in Orange County, Calif., Québec City and Detroit through fall.The Ultimate Playground Demo Tour is set up to provide more BRP products to view, interactive displays, product specialists to answer questions, and more time and flexibility to look around, and delivers the experience of actually trying out the product of choice in a controlled and dynamic environment.
“Customers have been asking for a place where they can see all the BRP products at one time and use the units under the conditions they were meant to be enjoyed,” Leduc says. “Those who take time out of their busy schedules or travel long distances expect more. We deliver that.”
Brand building is especially important for BRP given it's one of the only OEMs that competes through its brands, Leduc explains. It competitors all compete through corporate names, he adds."The advantage of brands is they convey a very powerful emotional message that is specific to the brand itself, and we play that to our advantage. The complexity is when we're introducing new products, like the Spyder, people don't necessarily make the connection between Ski-Doo and Can-Am," he says. "We need to connect those brands together, and the Ultimate Playground we found is an incredible way to do that.
"People come and not only see the products, but try them out and also connect to all of them, including the endorser brand which is BRP."
Tour stops include a women's night. "We believe women represent an opportunity for us," he says. "We've seen it with lots of our products, the Spyder ownership is now up to 22 percent women which is far greater than for motorcycles."
BRP is no stranger to offering such a expansive demo program. For the past five years the OEM has offered organized demo rides for its lines of ATVs and snowmobiles. It also used trial rides — and extensive word of mouth — when it first launched the three-wheeled Spyder.
Instead of advertising the unique-looking vehicle, the company instead relied on its dealer community and their network of customers to get the word out about the Spyder. Leduc says the company knew the only way to convince folks to buy the Spyder was to have them ride one first. Since the initial launch three years ago, the company has hosted more than 60,000 demo rides.
The complete Ultimate Playground tour dates, times and locations can be found at www.brpultimateplayground.com.
More events could be added to the Ultimate Playground schedule so be sure to go check out the details for your area.posted by Dennis Johnson
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