2024 Marketing Disruptor of the Year
Land Rover
Why go to a showroom when a showroom can come to you? The traditional car sales model is dead. Brick-and-mortar shops have evolved to add online shopping and purchase options, meeting customers where they are. One luxury brand is taking that philosophy a step further.
Range Rover House was conceived to court well-to-do owners with a global series of invite-only luxury experiences at some of the world's top destinations. Multimillion-dollar homes perched on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, Mediterranean playgrounds for the rich and famous, a world-renowned historic English estate and the best ski resorts in the world are among the locales.
"As the proud creators of modern luxury, Range Rover House serves as a platform to provide our clients with a curated lifestyle experience which embodies the Range Rover brand. Through a global platform of over 20 events in some of the world's cultural destinations, from St. Tropez to Abu Dhabi and California, we have offered our clients a truly luxurious experience that far surpasses the traditional showroom or test drive," Geraldine Ingham, global managing director of Range Rover, told Newsweek.
Only Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Velar and Evoque SUV owners receive invitations to experience the Houses. Getting a golden ticket allows guests to experience fine food, elite hospitality, unique test drives and the ability to purchase a special edition model, which is exclusively available to attendees.
Each of the Houses is made to feel like a sanctuary. On-site massages and other wellness activations are paired with seminars by Land Rover brand ambassadors, art exhibitions and other curated experiences. Guests can also visit the Range Rover Design Suite, where they can customize a new model and order it.
Last August at a Range Rover House in Carmel, California, watch-collecting platform Hodinkee hosted a dinner and master class with its COO Eneuri Acosta and Joe Eberhardt, president and CEO of Jaguar Land Rover North America, along with Range Rover customers. It featured an exhibition of rare, limited-edition pieces and gave guests insights into the watch-collecting world.
Each Range Rover House is designed to reflect the latest Range Rover brand standards, ensuring the optimal experience for its guests. That includes the look and feel of the location.
"We're recreating for clients the sense of sanctuary one feels inside of a Range Rover. Representing the incredible modernist design embodied by the Range Rover. Bringing to life the level of service and personal luxury appropriate for clients who enjoy the finest experiences the world has to offer. But ultimately, it's about welcoming our clients and offering them an enjoyable experience," Stuart Schorr, director of PR, communications and experiences at Jaguar Land Rover, said.
How We Did It
To determine the candidates for this year's World's Greatest Auto Disruptors, Newsweek's Autos team, led by Senior Autos Editor Eileen Falkenberg-Hull, compiled a list considering every major automaker in each of the award categories. Brands, teams and individuals were nominated based on their cumulative merits for the past year, after combing through each candidate's accomplishments in the areas of future product planning, business strategy, technology, marketing, engineering, sustainability, manufacturing and research and development. To be considered, candidates had to be employing executive decision-making, corporate strategy, product development and publicity in a way that is driving fundamental, transformative change in the automotive market, with measurable real-world results—or have clear and demonstrable potential to do so. The Legacy award honors an individual who has achieved these results over decades in the industry. The list of nominees was narrowed by Autos editors, including Jake Lingeman. Winners were chosen after a consensus was reached amongst the Autos team and Newsweek top editors.
