Camp Jeep Lines Up Entertainment For Yearly Event

The yearly Woodstock--albeit family-friendly--of automotive loyalty events, Camp Jeep, will be a lot larger this year, as it brings in concerts by the B-52s, a skateboard demonstration by Olympic snowboard gold medalist Shaun White and skateboard icon Tony Hawk, and other events in the three-day festival held for the sixth time at the Oak Ridge Estate in Nelson County, Va., near Charlottesville July 26-28.

Other performers include country star Tim McGraw, who will take a break from his "Jeep Presents Soul2Soul Tour 2007" to perform at Camp Jeep on July 26. Shaun White and Hawk will skateboard together, as part of their own promotional work together. Jeep will also use snow makers to create a venue for snowboarding enthusiasts.

The first Camp Jeep was held in Camp Hale, Colo., in 1995. This will be the 14th Camp Jeep event.

Peter Hollinshead, manager for Jeep events, says the company is ramping up experiential marketing this year, with a 30-stop road show called "The Go Anywhere, Do Anything Tour" that hits major events like air shows and fairs and other regional events with Jeep vehicles, off-road experiences and interactive events.

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That event actually replaces a long-time experiential marketing program, Jeep 101, which had been a stand-alone event. "This allows us to take the Jeep experience to events that are already in existence," he says.

Hollinshead says overall attendance at Camp Jeep, which last year was held in the Poconos, has been on the rise, with 2,300 Jeeps--translating to about 8,000 people--attending next month's event. The first Camp Jeep in 1995 brought in about 614 vehicles.

He says this year's Camp Jeep is much larger in scope than previous efforts, and its influence as a defining virtue of the Jeep brand extends beyond attendee numbers.

"Camp Jeep has become part of the brand equity," he says. "We talk about the event all year long in all kinds of Jeep communications: in releases, catalogues, owner manuals, our Web sites; it's everywhere we can put it and many more people know about it than attend. It's a celebration of all the Jeep life means, and for people who may not even want to participate it in themselves, they know that the product is enhanced and improved by experiences like this."

Jeep's presence at auto shows, particularly the New York International Auto Show, includes the kind of off-road test-drive experiences that Jeep lines up at the camp area.

"We have been trying to bring the Camp Jeep experience to many more people--including non-owners," says Hollinshead.

He also says that this will be the first Camp Jeep event showing all Jeep vehicles, as well as the soon-to-launch 2008 Liberty compact SUV.

"We will have all seven vehicles there for the first time. Attendees are brand ambassadors, they go back home and tell their friends about their experiences, they go back with things they have purchased shirts, hats pieces, they go back home with the knowledge about how to use their vehicles in off-road situations."

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