Making your Marketing Move
with Branded Vehicle Provenance Marketing
Cars are mobile with four billboards built in making it an easy provenance marketing play. This article looks at a few examples of provenance marketing using the Kiwi trademark and explores some of what’s already working for New Zealand businesses.
Where To Place The Kiwi Trademark
Your own brand should be the most prominent and be applied in a way that is fits with the vehicle. This takes some thinking. For Rainbow Confectionery, this meant adding a swirl over the rear wheel when applying the iconic rainbow colours from their building. Underneath the rainbow swirl are a range of jellybeans arranged as if they’re spinning off the back wheels. More subtly, jellybeans are a smart choice because Rainbow Confectionery are the only manufacturers of jelly beans in New Zealand…. which brings us on to their mobile provenance marketing tactics.
Provenance Marketing On the Drivers Side Panel
The Rainbow Confectionery logo takes up the the entire front drivers door. This makes it clear the vehicle is owned by Rainbow Confectionery and is accepted practice. The side panel does include the Kiwi trademark, towards the back, over the cars petrol flap. This ensures that when the car is parallel parked, both the companies brand and the Kiwi trademark are viewable on a single panel.
Rock-It Boards took a different approach using their larger van sized canvas to emblazon their logo from drivers door to rear sliding door. The rear wheel has been incorporated into the design by showing five different ways of using the Rock-It Board for wellness exercises. There is no provenance marketing added to the side panel. If the Kiwi trademark was to be added, a reversed out white on black design could be added to the rearmost tinted window.
Race Car Driver Mad Mike did exactly that, reversing the Kiwi trademark above the rear tyres at waist height. For racing, this is a coveted position because it’s the brand highest on the race vehicle and is often displayed by TV cameras as tyres as changed or the camera capture a close up of the driver from the exterior of the car.
Reg Cook runs his race car on the Bonneville Salt Flats with the retro old school New Zealand Made Kiwi trademark. Outside of his own driver details ‘G/FCC’ and race car number ‘5595’, New Zealand Made is the most prominent readable aspect. Reg also includes 9 Fernmark logos in a patterned format from the front rear tyre to the end of the driver and passenger doors.
Paul Radisich is a big supporter of Buy New Zealand Made and wherever his Aegis Oil brand is found, it’s highly likley the Kiwi trademark will be there. On this photo of Brad Lauder’s car, Aegis Oil gets pole position in terms of sponsorship branding. Included within the elipse is the words ‘New Zealand’s Oil’ and if you look closely, there is a silver triangle. While you may not be able to read the New Zealand Made words or see the Kiwi from a distance, up close it’s clear that this is the Kiwi trademark.
“Being prominent is the most important and the side and front of the cars is the most visible place when trying to achieve max exposure.” Paul Radisich — Managing Director Aegis Oil.
Dying Art Caskets have used both drivers and rear door panels for their logo, with the Kiwi trademark placed on the back rear panel. With the triangle removed this enables the ‘Kiwi’ and the ‘New Zealand Made’ wording to be expanded making it legible from a further distance away.
Because it matches the white colour palette of the Dying Art logo, both logos integrate well into the overall colour wrap on the car. This reflects what Dying Art is about, applying creative designs to caskets for those desiring something different than a timber wood finished casket.
Bata Shoes have adopted the retro blue and red Kiwi trademark. This reinforces their byline of “Bata Safety Gumboots, made for Kiwi feet on Kiwi soil.” The benefit of branding towards the rear of a vehicle, is it stands out in parking lots where cars are parked side by side.
If you are considering adopting the classic red and blue Kiwi trademark below, use the current branding available here. The classic red and blue Kiwi trademark is only available with a licence. A annual fee is payable for the licence.
Provenance Marketing On the Rear Panel
The rear panel is the most important panel in my view. It is what the driver behind you gets to stare at for 2–3 minutes at every red traffic light. In the photo below Rainbow have opted for both logos, equally sized with their own logo on the left. This is a natural choice as we tend to read left to right.
Below the logos is the website of the Rainbow Confectionery where you can purchase their products. It’s a simple uncluttered call to action for those wanting to know what the company is all about.
On their website, the Kiwi trademark is placed in the footer with their logo leading in the header. This continuation provides a consistent brand experience ‘from atoms to digital’.
A similar approach has been applied by Rock It Board who provides rock-able exercise boards for wellness. As the product is one of movement, it also makes sense that the Kiwi trademark is applied on an angle to evoke a sense of rocking movement.
Rock-It Boards have also applied their website name across the rear bumper in a stylish reverse white on black that underlines the various elements floating above on the hatch. From a distance this ensures that the website is the most prominent aspect of the branding.
Golden Bay Cement proudly brand their concrete mixers as New Zealand Made. It is a source of pride for the drivers and a recognition to fellow drivers that their literally building the foundation of New Zealand. With so much real estate on a vehicle of this size, Golden Bay Cement have opted for simplicity, leaving plenty of white space. The rear of the truck puts their own logo top and centre, followed by the commitment “We Commit. We Do.” followed by the New Zealand Made Kiwi trademark.
Provenance Marketing On the Bonnet
We haven’t yet found a business that puts the Kiwi trademark on the bonnet of their car (but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist!). The benefit of logos on bonnets is the large uninterrupted space to place a logo. That does come with drawbacks however as the area gets a lot of sun. I would recommend that those considering adding the Kiwi trademark to the bonnet of their vehicle, consider a black car with the logo applied in a reversed white format.
Provenance Marketing On the Vehicle Roof
Again this is a large canvas and for those businesses who are leading with a provenance marketing strategy and have a number of vehicles, this could be a consideration. Car roofs aren’t that easy to spot at ground level however so are best suited for businesses that are operating in built up city environments or hilly rural areas where people are likely to catch a glimpse of the logo. If you see one, please let me know.
Summary
This is an article in progress as we know there are a lot more with provenance marketing on their vehicles. Send them through to rjennings@buynz.org.nz where your business will be added.
