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Situation: General Motors had an interest in creating a consumer presence in Las Vegas. It explored opportunities to sponsor the Celine Dion show at Caesars Palace, a giant Ferris Wheel on the Las Vegas Strip, and many others. After talking with General Motors executives for nearly four years about establishing a sponsorship presence in Las Vegas, he finally sold them on his ‘brain child’… GM’s first ‘open to the public’ consumer test track in the most visited city in the world. C-Level executives of GM agreed with Pharris’ vision and proceeded to create “GM’s The Drive.” News Clips: Photos: view more Photos Video: GM The Drive
Goal: Create a venue in which consumers can test drive General Motors vehicles and experience the quality of the products in an entertaining and informative environment. Strategy: Pharris’ strategy was to build the track on an 11-acre parcel of land adjacent to the Sahara Hotel & Casino, which included its own Las Vegas Monorail station, the largest billboard in the State of Nevada, and direct visibility from one of the busiest intersections in Las Vegas and thousands of hotel rooms and condos, as well as direct access to the freeway. Creative: Work with various GM brands, divisions and marketing agencies to develop a project that would be supported corporate wide. Work with the Las Vegas Monorail and its other sponsorship on cooperative marketing initiatives; create and implement promotional programs with various hotels, attractions, meeting planners, and service companies throughout Las Vegas; acquire sponsorship rights to the venues Monorail station and one train; conduct General Motors sales programs and meetings at the venue; and, secure Congressional Recognition, County and City Resolutions for presentations during media events. Create a number of high profile media events at the venue to secure significant publicity ultimately develop consumer perception of the venue as an attraction rather than a corporate marketing tool. Results: GM’s The Drive conducted between 500 and 800 consumer test drives per day, widely considered as very successful. The PR campaign (which was featured in USA Today, in 57 television news stories, 215 Internet stories and dozens of radio stations) created by Pharris in cooperation with GM garnered 287 news stories, 62,942,750 audience impressions and a media value of approximately $1.5-million. Patrick Pharris also procured agreements from companies and individuals to purchase 26 General Motors vehicles following the opening of The Drive.
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