2025 Dealer Network Convention: A Sports Arena to Rally an Automotive Network Around Electrification
WMH Project designed a dealer network convention for an international car manufacturer, gathering around 800 professional attendees over three half-days in an arena near Paris. The creative bet: turning an annual meeting into an American-style sports show to rally the network around electrification without losing touch with field realities.
Why turn a dealer convention into a sports show?
An international car manufacturer needed to rally its distribution network around its ambitions and a strategic shift toward electric. The challenge: break away from the classic convention format without losing the business substance (results, targets, new services). WMH Project chose the metaphor of a major American sports gathering — a spectacular, collective "game day" — to carry a determined B2B message and energize the entire network.
How do you bring a network on board with electrification without alienating it?
On the ground, a significant share of the range remains combustion-powered and electric is not yet a commercial given. Rather than forcing the message, the format rallies the audience under a broad ambition that goes beyond electrification alone: heritage, reliability, innovation and conquest. The narrative unfolds in three acts — "yesterday we prepared the ground, today we lead the game, tomorrow we lift the trophy" — to reassure and engage without losing touch with dealership realities.
How do you make the products the real stars of the event?
Eighteen models were treated as eighteen champions, split across five thematic worlds. Five immersive vignettes pace the event: vehicles emerging in sound-and-light shows, LED-clad flat BMX performances, freestyle basketball moves and acrobatic stunts around each range. This staging goes beyond static display and turns every vehicle into a central character in the story.
What makes for an immersive, high-tempo plenary?
The keynote borrows the codes of a match: introduction, first period (results and decisive actions), a product-reveal "halftime show," second period (future and upcoming wins). An AI-designed virtual mascot joins a presenter from the sports world. A drone-filmed "backstage" entrance stages the executives like athletes, a big-game-style "commercial break" punctuates the highlights, and a sound-and-light finale unites the whole audience under the spotlights.
How do you extend the experience into the evening?
Thematic debrief workshops (including a forward-looking session on AI serving the customer experience), a "Born in USA" dinner cocktail across finger-food corners, a DJ set of American classics remixed into electro with automotive sound design, a festive roller-skate service and an AI-augmented photocall: each step extends the sports-and-tech territory. A connected badge, live QR-code feedback and an AI photo gallery round out the visitor journey.
What sustainability commitments apply to this kind of event?
The setup includes a responsible purchasing strategy (rental first, biodegradable goodies), a tooled carbon assessment, short-supply-chain catering with donation of unsold food, voluntary offsetting through tree planting, the promotion of soft mobility and enhanced accessibility for all audiences via a dedicated app for people with disabilities.
At WMH Project, we turn major corporate gatherings into experiences that unite — audacity, impact, responsibility.
FAQ
How many attendees did this convention gather?
Around 800 professional attendees, split into three groups of roughly 250 people across three consecutive half-days.
What was the creative thread of the event?
A major American-style sports gathering, where each vehicle becomes a champion and the network a united team, structured around a three-act narrative: prepare, lead the game, lift the trophy.
How did the event integrate sustainability goals?
Through a responsible purchasing strategy, a tooled carbon assessment, short-supply-chain catering, offsetting via tree planting, soft-mobility promotion and enhanced accessibility.
How do you balance business messaging with a spectacular experience?
Conventional content (results, targets, new services) is seamlessly woven into a match-paced keynote format, with highlights, product reveal and inspiring exchanges.