Following the roll-out of similar schemes across Europe, drivers will receive a grant of up £2000 for the purchase of a new car, if they trade in a vehicle at least 10 years old. The £300m scheme launches next month.
A number of manufacturers, including Ford, BMW and Citroen, have rushed into the marketplace with tactical press campaigns telling consumers why they should use their grant on one of their models.
Several car marques have approached the marketing in the most literal of terms, namely by showing a ball of scrap metal next to a shiny new car in the hope it will entice the reader.
Advocates of this format include French manufacturers Renault and Peugeot. Renault former accompanies its pictures of scrap and a new Clio model with the strapline ‘Do this. Get this', while Peugeot attempts to co-ordinate the ad with its wider ‘DriveSexy' strategy by using the line ‘Turn rust into lust'.
BMW's campaign also uses a direct format, and UK marketing director Richard Hudson claims there is little point in using the scrappage incentive for brand-building.
‘The benefit is that this is a topical story and consumers have background knowledge,' says Hudson. ‘It is not necessarily about differentiating, you are not going to win new customers. It is about being opportunistic and to show that BMW is part of the scheme.'
However, other manufacturers are seeing a chance to fit the scrappage scheme into their wider marketing strategy. Volvo and Fiat have emphasised the environmental benefits to trading in an older vehicle, with the Italian marque branding the grant under its Fiat-ecoplus+ programme.
Nissan is using the campaign to promote the fact it assembles a significant number of its cars in the UK, playing on fears that the main beneficiaries of the scrappage scheme will be foreign manufacturing plants. The ad itself shows a Micra painted in the colours of the Union Flag, boasting that consumers can buy ‘From the UK's largest car maker'.
Ford, meanwhile, has opted for a more creative approach, showing an old Fiesta model with the line ‘Save up to £5,000 on a new Ford with this coupon', before directing readers towards a microsite, www.ford.co.uk/scrappageincentive.
Ford UK marketing director Mark Simpson says it was vital to get the campaign out as quickly as possible: ‘It's a different kind of market, targeting the kind of drivers who obviously don't usually buy new cars. You have grab people and take them to the next step.'
Simpson adds that Ford will follow with a second wave of advertising once it thrashes out how it can make the scheme appealing for buyers of larger vehicles, where a £2000 incentive would make less of an impact.
The remaining marques must focus on why consumers should use their £2000 prize on one of their models, or face losing out on a potentially business-saving opportunity.