Plenty of events surrounding the New York International Auto Show, like the show itself, cater to the industry's old guard, but Audi focused on taking advantage of the market by opening its annual Auto Show party to a diverse crowd of influencers and celebrities. This year the carmaker did that by touting a well-timed performance from M Ward and Zooey Deschanel's band, She & Him, at the March 31 event in its own Audi Forum.
"Their album came out the week of our event and we knew there would be a lot of attention and interest on them," said Andrew Lipman of Audi's Business & East Coast Communications. "They have a great following, and people are really interested in seeing and hearing what Zooey is working on, so we knew they’d be a great draw."
Though the performance choice clearly caters to an atypical Auto Show-goer, Lipman explained that going for a hipper demographic isn't a new strategy for its presence at the show. "You’re always going to have a mix of executives and auto journalists," said Lipman, "so we really go to great efforts to balance the room so we have an eclectic mix of interesting people. They’re all tastemakers and influencers within different segments, and it’s important to us that we are constantly speaking to different audiences and fans of our brand."
The crowd that showed up for Wednesday's party included Jane Krakowski, Tyson Beckford, and model Jessica Hart, and though that type of guest list is not unusual for an Audi party, the concert was unique to the brand's strategy for the New York market. Lipman says that the carmaker's events surrounding the big three domestic shows—Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York—get individual treatment in their programming and guest lists.
"New York being the media capital of the world makes it a very competitive landscape beyond just the automotive manufacturers," he said. "You have to really do things that are going to grab attention; music oriented events have worked very well for us here."
As for Los Angeles and Detroit, Audi keeps the focus on what the towns do best—film and cars, respectively.
