• by Tanya Gazdik , January 12, 2017

DETROIT — With millions of consumers connecting with the automakers via their auto show displays, their design and execution are not taken lightly. 

Mazda and GMC are two brands that overhauled their booths in time for the North American International Auto Show. More than 800,000 consumers are expected to attend the upcoming public days of just this one show. 

Mazda looks at the display as part of a continuing effort to define a more mature Mazda brand, says Robert T. Davis, senior vice president of U.S. operations at Mazda North American Operations. The automaker partnered with experiential marketing agency George P. Johnson for the development of the auto show booth experience, that will be used across 54 shows in the next auto show year.

The booth will allow customers to interact with the cars, ask questions of the on-site team and explore Mazda’s story of craftsmanship and innovation. One area the exhibit talks about is Kodo, which the Japanese call soul of motion. “Mazda believes that a vehicle is not simply a means of transportation, but a partner in the journey intended to spur exhilaration, joy and well-being of the driver. We believe the energy and passion in our designers is directly transferred into every Mazda creation, breathing life into every vehicle we make.”

Davis compares the brand and its vehicle lineup to a microbrewed beer as opposed to the Budweiser and Miller offerings from other automakers. He said the auto show display has a similar, differentiating feel. 

“I really like the way it feels and I like the way it looks and I think it’s very appropriate for us and our brand and what we are trying to do in the marketplace,” Davis tells Marketing Daily. 

The previous display was fashioned around “Retail Revolution,” which was the theme of the dealer experience and had the feel of a garage, with corrugated metal and distinctive orange and green colors. 

“As the brands have evolved, we’ve evolved the look of our dealerships to what we are calling ‘Retail Evolution,’” Davis says. “It’s a more premium, but warm, look. And that’s what we want to have at all our major auto shows the U.S. So it’s a seamless transition between what we do here and what the customers would experience at the dealerships.”

The GMC display, created by Czarnowski Display Service Inc., also is new this year.

“I think it really shows the modern expression of 'professional grade' and really incorporates the design direction of our vehicles into the stand,” Rich Latek, GMC's director of marketing, tells Marketing Daily, referencing the brand's 15-year tagline, "We are Professional Grade."

The display includes a huge 4K video screen with extremely realistic graphics. “It’s showing Terrain product now but we show some of our lifestyle videos on it, too,” he says. “I’m afraid someone is going to walk into the screen, it’s so life-like.”

Different scales of it will be at different shows, depending on how much space on the show floor the brand has to work with. “We have different variations, but they all will carry the same look, tone and feel,” he says.