Live brand experience: JCB launch exhibition to boost international business

JCB has opened up a live brand experience in the form of an exhibition called The Story of JCB at its headquarters in Rocester.

The £5 million visitor attraction is expected to boost business from all over the world and especially in developing markets.

Customers can now experience the brand and its history right back to the 1820s and get more of an idea of what it stands for and its driving forces.

Sir Anthony Bamford, chairman of JCB, said: "We are an innovative company and our success over the past 66 years has been driven by innovation and that is at the very core of 'The Story of JCB.' It is a showcase of our unique story and something we can all be very proud of."

Brand experiences are powerful tools within industry and a much more memorable way to market a product or entire company, as in JCB's case.

A recent study by BDRC Continental has found that field marketing with an aspect of live brand experience is still a highly effective form of marketing.

Understanding the heritage of a company helps to prove its heavyweight status within the market and show new customers why the name is so trusted.

The exhibition's 14 different zones take the visitor and potential customer on a journey from the Bamford family's blacksmith yard right the way through to the fuel-saving environmentally friendly machines of today.

Of the families involved in the company's history both the Bamfords and the Boots figure highly with many generations providing some colourful characters in the story.

Housed within a building where JCB production occurred, visitors can go past the office from which Mr Bamford surveyed his JCB world and famously sacked his nephew with a short and to the point note reading, "Your services will no longer be required."

Of course a highlight for many will be the ten real life machines from various different ages, which really help the client to understand the product.

Andy Cording, brand experiences account manager at The MotivAction Group, recently said: "Other than product placement, brand experiences are one of the most effective ways to bring the brand's personality alive and to allow consumers to use their product or see it in action."