Country Living lures Mercedes

By COLIN GRIMSHAW, Campaign, Monday, 22 May 2000 12:00AM

Country Living has pulled off an innovative promotion linking Mercedes cars with the magazine’s dog-loving readers.

Country Living has pulled off an innovative promotion linking

Mercedes cars with the magazine’s dog-loving readers.

The June issue of Country Living carries a six-page advertorial for

Mercedes and a sponsored cover-mounted booklet entitled Special Places

to Stay, which reviews country hotels that welcome pets. The booklet

also features a Mercedes-sponsored competition.

The advertorial, A Sign of Good Breeding, marries a Mercedes car model

with a particular dog breed owner. For example, the compact Mercedes

A-class is apparently best suited to West Highland terriers, whereas the

roomier C-class can easily accommodate a labrador.

The idea was sparked when publisher Chris Hughes saw the Mercedes TV ad

featuring a dog being driven through the desert, accompanied by the

obligatory Janis Joplin soundtrack. Shortly afterwards, Hughes went on a

media day out to Scotland to test drive an M-class.

’I found myself sitting next to Simon Oldfield, the marketing director

of Mercedes Benz UK,’ said Hughes. ’I pitched the idea to him, pointing

out that dog legislation was in the news. He took it back to Mercedes’

brand planning manager Anna Hill at MSC. She judged it would fit the

grand strategy and, through a series of coincidences, business in excess

of pounds 50,000 was done.’

Hughes also revealed he has poached Emma Teague from IPC’s classified

department to work as a sales executive on Country Living.

Meanwhile, Country Living will sponsor the Royal Horticultural Society’s

Tatton Park Flower Show.

This article was first published on Campaign