GWM takes ‘Wahs selling cars’ to the big leagues with its Fieldays sales stadium

GWM New Zealand took its ‘Wahs selling cars’ platform off the screen and onto the Fieldays turf in June, turning its Mystery Creek site into a fully operational GWM sales stadium.

Half stadium, half dealership, the experience brought together 10 GWM dealerships and 17 vehicles within a space built to promote GWM and sell cars, while delivering the atmosphere of a One NZ Warriors home game.

GWM’s lead agency Thinkerbell extended the ‘Wahs selling cars’ platform, created earlier this year featuring One New Zealand Warriors players as the brand’s newest sales team, into a physical retail concept for the Fieldays event. 

Pead managed the New Zealand activation strategy and on-site delivery, while Luminary Group handled production at Mystery Creek.

Delivered strong commercial results

The stadium-themed dealership featured an immersive indoor showroom opening onto a branded playing field fit with grandstands, goalposts, a jumbo screen and live commentary. Inside saw full offices, a cafe, lounge and even team lockers on display. 

The sales stadium also delivered a standout commercial result for GWM, becoming the brand’s strongest-performing event for vehicle sales in its 18 years in New Zealand. More than 950 Fieldays visitors also took part in the ‘More can tow challenge’ across the four days.

At the centre of the experience was the ‘Cannon more can tow challenge’, which invited visitors to test their own pulling power against the capability of the GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV and the Warriors themselves. Daily competitions, crowd commentary and prizes turned a product demonstration into one of the event’s main spectator moments.

Give it a voice and personality

One NZ Warriors brand ambassador and former player Monty Betham, appearing in his role as “GWM sales manager’, was joined by Warriors wellbeing manager and fellow former player Jerry Seuseu. 

The Alternative Commentary Collective (ACC) also joined the pack to record their podcast live from the GWM grandstand followed by live sporting commentary to the ‘More can tow’ challengers. 

GWM NZ country manager Cameron Thomas says the sales stadium shows how a strong local partnership can be carried through the entire customer experience.

“’Wahs selling cars’ has given GWM a voice and personality that feels at home in New Zealand. Fieldays gave us the chance to take that idea out of campaign content and build it into the way people met the brand, the vehicles and our dealers.

“The site needed to be entertaining, but it also had to work as a serious retail environment. The response across the four days showed the partnership is doing real work for GWM – bringing people in, helping them connect with the range and giving our dealers a stronger starting point for conversation. That is exactly what we mean by ‘Go local, grow more’.”

Feels like a real stadium

Carl Tindall, lead experiential production Tinker at Thinkerbell, says the stadium was a natural progression for a campaign built around the idea of the Warriors operating their own dealership. 

“The fun of ‘Wahs selling cars’ has always come from treating the premise seriously. If the Warriors really were GWM’s sales team, then their biggest dealership had to feel like their home ground.”

Sarah Munnik, partner at Pead, highlights the challenge of designing a site that functioned as a high-volume dealership, fan experience and live content hub.

“This had to work for dealers, media and thousands of Fieldays visitors over four days. The best moments happened when these elements collided – customers discussing vehicles while the ACC recorded nearby and Monty created content. That ‘organised chaos’ made it feel like a real stadium.”

Ahmed Almukhtar, founder and director of Luminary Group, sates that the production balanced theatrical elements with the operational requirements of a functioning automotive site.

“The build had to instantly signal ‘stadium’ while ensuring every component served a practical purpose. Integrating the playing surface, grandstand and showroom into one cohesive, high-functioning environment was a complex but incredibly rewarding challenge.”

Credits

• Client: GWM New Zealand
  • Country manager: Cameron Thomas
  • Marketing and communications lead NZ: Jem Taylor
• Creative agency: Thinkerbell
• New Zealand activation strategy, localisation and delivery: Pead
• Production partner: Luminary Group
• Brand partner: One New Zealand Warriors
• Talent: Monty Betham, Jerry Seuseu
• Podcast and live commentary: The Alternative Commentary Collective
• Partner integrations: V Energy, Arnott’s Shapes, Dynasty Sport, Makita Tools
• Content production: Chameleon Production
• Build and technical suppliers:
  • H2 Creatives
  • Display Resources
  • Platinum Hire
  • Stage & Seating hire NZ
  • Peter Van Gent