Redefining AP Racing

by Steve

AP Racing, like many apex brands, is highly regarded as a World leading technical innovator but is also respected for its heritage and reputation.

However, apex brands can and do suffer from a wide and complex product range that can make defining business sectors difficult to achieve - usually as a result of product cross-over and a similarity in horizontal and vertical markets.

So how do we create clarity of service and a simple product offering? How do we identify a product and link it to the relevant sector? And most importantly, how do we convey this to the target audience?

With those challenges facing AP Racing Triad were commissioned to create a simplified, customer focussed advertising campaign that went a little deeper and clearly identified the business sectors and their audience but also leveraged the AP Racing brand.

This has culminated in a new corporate identity, new photographic style, new corporate colour swatch and has evolved the way they advertise. It's no longer just about the product. Now it's about the people that power the brand.

Back to basics and find the source of the issue.

In its most simple form, AP Racing make high performance brake and clutch components for the automotive industry. Delve a little deeper and we see the emergence of motorsport, aftermarket, OEM, historic, performance road and specialist vehicle sectors. Deeper still and we begin to see the horizontal markets within each sector, Formula 1, World Rally, Nascar and so on. Each a niche within the overall sector they are part. Working like this and we can quickly count dozens upon dozens of 'sectors' that would otherwise need to be clarified.

So we worked backwards. We went back to the core and grouped all the possibilities into just four clearly defined and easily identified primary sectors; Racecar, OEM Road Car, Historic and Armoured Vehicles.

We then set about positioning the products within each of the sectors to create a clear and defined product range - making it easier to identify the target audience but also help identify the best medium to reach them.

To make it easier still we then created the business case for introducing colour to support the four new sectors - and this evolved to include the evolution of the AP Racing logo - meaning that each new sector was represented by a newly created colour swatch which in turn was supported by a coordinated change of  colour for the AP Racing logo itself.

Leveraging the new sectors & creating the message

In leveraging the AP Racing brand we need to identify the key point of difference. In the case of AP Racing, that is the engineers; the technical mind that sits behind the products available. The products are renowned and the positioning of the product has been key for decades. What became apparent is the service level, expertise and technical support on offer is in fact a key differentiator and a primary reason for choosing AP Racing. 

AP Racing is exceptional a what it does and this is the right time for their inner confidence to shine through. Knowledge is everything at AP Racing and so we set about leveraging it.

Bring out the team

The key to any campaign is to generate buy-in at all levels. With the theme set and the sectors identified we now picked key AP Racing engineers and photographed them at our studio. We wanted to capture their knowledge, thoughts and experience in an image and convey that to the audience with bold, clear and confident messaging. The result was a highly engaging process that captured attention in and outside of the industry and brought the internal teams of AP Racing together. This side of the campaign will launch in a country wide advertising campaign from May 2012 onwards. (Initial campaigns will concentrate on products shots like the sample above that features in Banzai Magazine an aftermarket and car tuning publication).  

The outcome

The results speak for themselves. The brand has also been re-defined, the markets and sectors clearly identified and the messaging, photographic style and layouts are instantly recognisable as AP Racing . Advertising spend is on budget and has been clearly planned thanks in part, to a clear and objective led messaging strategy that targets the correctly identified audience.

Most importantly, customers (and competitors) have taken notice. Triad has given AP Racing the template for continued success, on and off-track.