More than a Sponsor: How Close Brothers Motor Finance Helped Shape the European Motor Show
- Stephen Bradshaw
- Feb 5
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 20
We didn’t sponsor the European Motor Show to be seen, we did it to be remembered.
When the inaugural European Motor Show was announced, it came with the upside of a fresh platform and the risk that every first-year event carries: you don’t know how the public will respond, what the footfall will be, or what the experience will feel like on the ground. For Close Brothers Motor Finance, the challenge was sharper again. Close Brothers doesn’t sell directly to consumers. It supports customers through dealer partners and broker partners. That meant brand familiarity among show attendees couldn’t be assumed, and a standard “logo-and-leaflets” approach would land flat.
How it started: one conversation and a fast move
This began at the Finance Awards. We met someone from Catalyst Media and asked a simple question: are you putting a motor show together? When we learned they were building the European Motor Show, BGC pushed quickly to secure the first opportunity to negotiate lead sponsorship rights for Close Brothers Motor Finance.
That early move mattered. It meant Close Brothers didn’t join the show. It helped shape it.
The brief: hearts and minds
The objective was straightforward and ambitious:
Put Close Brothers Motor Finance into the hearts and minds of Irish consumers and European Motor Show attendees.
We knew the route to that objective wouldn’t be product selling. It would be memory and feeling.
There’s a Maya Angelou idea that sits behind every good brand experience: people will forget what you said, but they remember how you made them feel. That became our filter. If something didn’t create a feeling of surprise, delight, competition, connection, calm, it didn’t make the cut.
BGC’s role: the quarterback
BGC’s job was to act as the strategic lead and delivery integrator the quarterback. That meant owning the opportunity from rights negotiation all the way through to live execution.
BGC led:
Sponsorship negotiation and rights schedule with Catalyst Media, structured with a multi-year mindset (we build sponsorships to last, not one-and-done).
Experience strategy: defining what Close Brothers needed people to feel and remember, and how to deliver that in a fast-moving event environment.
Agency pitch process: coordinating experiential agencies and acting as pitch doctor to keep proposals anchored to the brief.
Partner integration: aligning experiential, creative, media, PR, and content teams so the audience experience felt coherent, not cobbled together.
Following a competitive pitch, Journey Creative was appointed to bring the experience to life. In parallel, BGC coordinated Media 365 (media) and Rosely Group (PR) to ensure the stand didn’t just perform inside the hall it travelled far beyond it. When it came to content development, we partnered with the skillful Nudge Social who helped shape the story of the festival and capture the moments that took our breath away.
The solution: an emotional rollercoaster in four zones
We designed the Close Brothers Motor Finance presence around one idea: create a sequence of moments that people want to talk about.
The stand experience was split into four sections, with a clear “hero” anchor and brought to life by the expertise of Journey Creative.
1) The Hero Beacon
A curved LED screen sat beneath the Close Brothers roundel, acting like a visual signal across the event a central point that made the stand instantly recognisable, filmable, and easy to navigate back to.
2) Sensory Surprise: Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream
We greeted attendees with an experience they didn’t expect at a motor show: liquid nitrogen ice cream. It was theatre, taste, and fun in the first ten seconds. Flavours changed throughout the weekend, salted caramel, piña colada, cookies and cream and more, and we built brand immersion by aligning ice cream colours to Close Brothers’ brand palette.
3) Technology and Nostalgia: “Motoring Through the Ages” AI Photobooth
We leaned into AI in a way that felt human, not gimmicky. People took a photo with friends or family, chose a decade and vehicle style they loved, and received an illustrated image they could download, print, and share. It created keepsakes and kept Close Brothers in the memory, not just in the moment.
4) Skill and Competition: The Pit Stop Wheel Change Challenge
A hands-on challenge where people raced to change two wheels on a mocked-up formula car. The leaderboard turned it into a proper contest, and “bragging rights” did what they always do: pulled in mates, colleagues, parents, kids and kept the area busy.
5) Chill and Sustainability: The Reset Zone
Great experiences need contrast. We built a calm zone with a wooden bench cut in the shape of the Close Brothers roundel, flowers, and a holo circle feature that delivered playful brand messaging and social prompts. It gave people a place to pause and made the stand feel considered, not chaotic.
Taking it beyond attendees: PR, media and national reach
BGC’s view was simple: if the brief is hearts and minds, the experience needs to reach people who never set foot in the RDS.
So alongside the physical build, we designed a cost-effective comms engine:
A digital partnership with RTÉ, including homepage takeovers in December and January to support awareness and ticket sales.
A Late Late Show prize concept that enabled Close Brothers Motor Finance to provide a gift to everyone in the audience.
PR driven by integrated planning between PR, media and the event moment itself.
Content at the speed of the weekend
On-site content wasn’t treated as an afterthought. It was treated like performance marketing.
We shot footage with content masters 'Nudge' on the morning of the event and had it edited within 30 minutes so it could go straight onto social prompting people already in Dublin to come down and experience the stand that day.
That approach delivered a step-change in momentum:
Social media following increased by 130% in the 48 hours of the event.
We also invited guest speakers and personalities to the stand to experience it first-hand, adding credibility and content value through genuine participation.
The results: proof of hearts and minds
We built a stand to be remembered and measured whether it was.
Experience and sentiment
1,000+ people engaged with the Close Brothers Motor Finance experience.
Stand rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars from survey respondents.
Brand impact
85% of surveyed attendees said they were likely or very likely to consider using Close Brothers Motor Finance in the future as a result of their experience.
Built to last: value over three years
This wasn’t designed as a single weekend of activity. The partnership is a multi-year agreement, and the stand was built modularly, so the year-one investment can be spread across the full term and reused in other contexts including the LED and core structural assets.
What this shows
In a first-year event, the safest move is often to be conservative. We did the opposite: we built something bold, measurable, and designed to travel physically, emotionally, and digitally.
BGC’s role was pivotal because we led the full chain: spotting the opportunity early, securing lead sponsorship rights, building the multi-agency team, and driving delivery with one consistent standard if people don’t feel it, they won’t remember it.
Close Brothers didn’t just sponsor the inaugural European Motor Show. It became one of the experiences people talked about afterwards.
As a result Close Vrothers have reconfirmed their commitment to the European Motor Show again for 2027
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