2010 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

ACDelco is a subsidiary of General Motors. And they offer the world’s biggest range of spare parts under their business promise: YES, for all cars and models. At the region’s biggest automotive trade fair – Automechanika – ACDelco wanted to do something different than their competitors to create awareness. They had an honest offer, but a limited budget. So the question was: what to do for a brand that’s talking to an audience, which is hands on and not stuck-up?

Creative Execution

What made ACDelco’s playground relevant is the idea of taking the world of exhibition stands back down from his high horse. Down to the people, down to the target audience: car parts guys. The stand turned something that already existed into something new – by simply resizing it to an idea. That engaged people. That attracted people’s attention far beyond the automotive industry. That was something to talk about. In other words: that was contagious.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We knew what we didn’t want: immersive spaces dressed in understated designs, dropped into situation with dynamic curves and all those pretty things you see and hear about at pretentious exhibition stand conventions. No, we wanted to be real! So our idea was pretty simple and direct: to be pretty simple and direct. To be fun, approachable, interactive, to bring ACDelco’s big offering to life: The biggest range of spare parts. So we created a playground for adults: ACDelco’s big world of spare parts.

Results

Well, ACDelco’s playground for wholesale dealers didn’t get us into the Hall of Fame of the International Architecture Society. We broke too many rules for that. Yet, thinking inside the box paid off: Within a few hours, ACDelco attracted an unseen amount of PR for their brand – both in trade and consumer press and even on TV. Not only did it win best stand of the year, but also more than 200 potential new business partners. And we’re convinced it also set a new world record: Never has a brand managed to show more logos per square meter.