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I want to give everyone an idea of what Bimmerfest East this past weekend entailed and what we were able to accomplish during the two days we spent in Englishtown, NJ.

There was a decent amount of prep involved leading up to this event including fixing the truck, getting displays put together, t-shirts to give away, as well as the logistics in getting the M235iR there along with two other vehicles for our booth area.

 
 
 
 
Before I go any further, the team we had this past weekend was top notch. Special thank you to Nate, Michael, Jess, Chris G, Ralph, JR, and Joey, as well as Kevin and Eric from Rooster Hall Racing. Everyone pulled their weight this weekend and made it the success it was. Even when we were overwhelmed by large crowds of people, we were about to get shirts handed out, answer any and all questions, and make people feel welcome in our spot. Not only did we handle the crowds well but we also handled set-up and clean-up quickly and efficiently both days. I did a lot of walking around to other vendor areas and I think we had the most welcoming one. It was a lot of work but ultimately we killed it.
 
 
What is Bimmerfest East?
 
Bimmerfest East is a massive BMW/Mini focused car show that features a show, vendor area, and Battle of the Bimmers which includes dyno, drag racing, and autocross events. Why is the show called Bimmerfest East? Simple answer is the original Bimmerfest show is located in California, and a few years back they created the east coast version of the show to cater to those who don't want to take a trip out west. Essentially, this is the single largest BMW event on the east coast, and being one of the largest BMW part retailers online, it only made sense for us to be there.
 
 
 
 
Why did we attend Bimmerfest East?
 
This sort of coincides with "what" but it's the largest gathering of BMW's on the East Coast and it's no more than 2 hours away. We're all automotive enthusiasts here, many of us drive or own BMWs, and we enjoy interacting with our customers, introducing ourselves to new ones, as well as talking to some of the other vendors out there.
 
 
 
 
What did FCP Euro do at Bimmerfest East?
 
Our goal at Bimmerfest was to put ourselves out there in front of the community. We're talking thousands of BMW's and possibly tens of thousands of attendees over the weekend. There is no better way to make ourselves visible than to be in front of the end consumer. Part of our issue as an online retailer is people can't put a face to the name. When you're an online retailer, people often have a difficult time finding a personal connection because the internet can be so anonymous. We have a lot of faces and names on our website, but there is a huge difference between talking face-to-face or talking via email.
 
 
Our goal at Bimmerfest was to talk to people, make introductions, network with other vendors, and in general get our name out there to as many people as possible. Part of this involved giving away free t-shirts with the M235iR on the front, designed by our very own Joey K. What made this even more appealing was the M235iR featured on our shirts was also there on the spot in our booth. People were able to grab a shirt then check out the car.
 
 
One thing that really surprised me is a TON of people had no idea who we are or what we do, even with as big as we have gotten in the BMW world. On the other hand, we did speak to a lot of people who know who we are and buy from us all the time. At one point  on Sunday we saw someone walking around with a 710 shirt. The face-to-face interaction was good because people felt free to share their thoughts on our website, the parts we offer, and what they would like to see in the future.
 
 
 
 

The t-shirts were a hit. Simply put, we spent the better part of Saturday afternoon and a lot of time on Sunday dealing with the demand for shirts. People were genuinely surprised that we were giving away free t-shirts that were actually cool, and I believe this left a lasting impression. On Sunday you could see a ton of people wearing their shirts they got from us on Saturday. Some people even changed into them on the spot. If you weren't able to make it out in person, we've also made these shirts available online at swag.fcpeuro.com.

 
 
 
       
 
 
I also think that between our booth setup with Michael's brother's 1M, the M235iR, and my M3, along with the displays and the general setup (shout out to Michael and Nate for laying this out in advance), we had a pretty smooth operation while dealing with upwards of 50 people at a time in our area. We had just about every other vendor there come to us including people from BMW of North America wanting a shirt. We were definitely a hit and we represented the company to the community very well.
 
 
Summary:
 
All in all Bimmerfest East was a huge success. The team worked well together, we were able to get to a lot of people, and were able to speak to a ton of vendors. We put a very positive impression out there with the community. To go along with that, we were also able to connect with current customers as well as make some new ones. Again, a huge success and thank you to the entire team for putting in time this weekend as well as the weeks leading up to it that helped make it a success.
 
If you'd like to view more photos, I've included many more in our full album on our Facebook page.   Check it out for more of the show!
 
 
 
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Written by :
Gareth Foley

Gareth is the BMW Make Level Marketer for FCP Euro and has been with the company since 2012. Gareth's BMW obsession started with a hand me down E39 528i when he was 17. From this car he learned how to do his own repair work while also learning more about BMW. When Gareth was at CCSU studying Marketing he had the opportunity to go to SEMA with the college car club. This is where he developed his love of the automotive industry. Since joining FCP in 2012 Gareth has sought out to develop one of the broadest and most accurate BMW replacement parts catalog. he can be reached at gareth1@fcpeuro.com


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