Volvo Cars Shrewsbury tap straight into their target demographic at Shrewsbury Food Festival and show their fun side with Carpool Karaoke at Shropshire Oktoberfest.

We’ve helped them reach new customers and cement business relationships.

Chris Carr from Volvo Shrewsbury shared his view on working with Shropshire Festivals…

Why do you sponsor Shropshire Festivals?

We sponsor Shropshire Festivals because it’s a great partnership. When I started this business five years ago, we were looking for somebody that we could work with in the community that would help us develop our business and it became very evident, very quickly that Shropshire Festivals was the business that we could partner with that could create that opportunity for us and since then, we’re here five years on and we’ve been using Shropshire Festivals consistently.

What do you get out of sponsoring one of the events?

It’s always difficult to say what you get out of the events. We don’t look to sell in our events, it’s about awareness and creating a belonging in the community so I don’t know whether you can put a value on that. What we can tell you is that we have had lots of customers come in and they’ve seen us Shropshire Festivals events, so it’s more of an awareness thing for us. It’s about being in the community and the vehicle that Shropshire Festivals give us is that opportunity.

What is your favourite Shropshire Festivals event?

That’s a difficult question. We love Oktoberfest, carpool karaoke has been a great success for us but that is purely about awareness and talking to a different demographic and saying that actually, Volvo is quite cool. It’s not just about an old-fashioned blanket in the car. 

But the Shrewsbury Food Festival is great as well because that for us creates family, the right demographic that are currently driving Volvo. So, I’d go for Oktoberfest for the fun value but in terms of talking to our current customer base, it’d be Shrewsbury Food Festival. We’ve sold way more cars from Shrewsbury Food Festival than any other event.

What would you say to someone who’s looking to sponsor Shropshire Festivals but is on the fence?

If you’re unsure about getting involved with Shropshire Festivals, I’d ask you to do two things… First go to an event and see what it’s about, and the time and detail that goes into these events. And then secondly, I’d ask you then spend some time with Beth. She knows everybody in the area, and she creates opportunities. Talk to her about what your business needs and she’ll give you the answers. She’s great if you pick the phone up and say, “look I need this”. I rang her the other week for something, and she provided me with an answer. The biggest thing I can say about Shropshire Festivals is their consistency. In five years, whatever I’ve asked them to do, they’ve delivered on it. They’re not here today and gone tomorrow.

If you’re looking for a sponsorship partnership that you can rely on, look no further. Get in touch with the team today to find out more.