To run through the recent responses:
Each Alpine centre paid for their invited guests to attend La Piste Bleue at Goodwood and the availability was VERY limited. As you can imagine, each Alpine centre has a large amount of enquiries on the books at any one time, so as the driving on the day was at a minimum between the morning and afternoon sessions, each dealer made the decision to treat it as a test-drive exercise for people we'd struggled tying down to an appointment.
In answer to the VIP's:
The first was a full time professional British Touring Car driver who we asked to come along to try the car out for a rare insight from an expert racing driver, to potentially offer specific services on future Alpine Retail Group events and as a brand ambassador for the group.
The second: A Major in the British Army responsible for all soldiers suffering with disability both mental and physical and who is trying to remove obstacles for these people. Raising awareness of her work in this way also supports the good work she does and gives hope to many others.
With regards to the contact methods used:
People were not contacted directly is down to GDPR laws, meaning Alpine would be breaking the law by doing so, whether by phone, email, letter or smoke signals. Therefore (rightly or wrongly) blanket social media notifications were posted. If you still disagree with this form of marketing. I suggest updating your contact preferences through the Alpine app.
Although we're both on holiday this week (separately, I might add) I have already spoken to the UK territory manager about the contact preferences for future events.
In no way was this event intended to shun the advocates of the Alpine brand and we're all genuinely disappointed it may have come across in that way to some people. As another post has mentioned on here, the event was structured by France and was largely out of the dealer network's hands, due to the limited availability of spaces.
To keep you aware of our commitment to the owner community:
I attended a meeting with other Alpine Retail Group representatives, with the Alpine territory manager, before the Goodwood event and we all agreed we should hold some more events in the future involving the owner's clubs who had shown brand loyalty for a long time. These events will be planned and put forward to you ALL in the near future.
I hope this covers everything you need to know but if anyone has specifically been offended or disappointed by anything not covered in this post, please feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to cover your questions.
Thanks,
Ian
Alpine Centre Manchester
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