Group 1 Automotive 3D Tour

We were recently called back into one of our first chains, Group 1 Automotive (A fortune 500 company founded in 1985), and their updated interactive Google Street View Virtual tours have come out marvellously.

Why did they call striking places back when we’d already created great Google Street View Virtual tours for their businesses? Because as businesses grow and evolve, adapting to customer demand is essential, and that means the business changes, as it should. The interactive tours should give potential customers a virtual tour of the business, as it is, not as it was a few years ago. Whilst you don’t need to update annually, once your business goes through a rebrand, it’s important that your virtual tour matches the true life experiences your customer will have when they walk through your actual doors, or in this case, around the cars!

Back in 2013, Jo struck up a conversation with the head of marketing (of the then Spire Automotive Group) while she was looking to buy her beloved campervan. It wasn’t long after that initial chance conversation that we were being commissioned to shoot all of their showrooms which has been a pleasure.

Now that Spire is Group 1 Automotive, with a new brand and new look showrooms. Jamie came back to us for a revamp of their online virtual tours giving a new lease of life to their Google listings on Google Search, Google Maps and Google My Business. Group 1 Automotive has locations throughout the UK that sell Minis, BMWs, Audis, Fords, Seats and VWs, so they really know their stuff. With such a wide range of vehicles and some beautiful showrooms across the country, it’s important to them to be found easily by clients and to have the best imagery so that potential customers can not only see how professional they are but also see their ranges.

Car showrooms are one of our specialities, giving us lots of lovely shiny surfaces, great lighting and wide aspect shots, all of which has made this a really fun project. Although oh my word – the WEATHER!!! Every sort of weather hit us at various points in shooting all the different locations. Thankfully it made for some superbly dramatic shots.

Photographing shiny surfaces is a particular challenge for professional photographers, it’s easy to shoot great photos of them, but not so easy to get great shots which don’t include the reflection of the photographer or the camera!

Because Group 1 understandably wanted consistency across the brand Jo has been kept busy shooting in 40 locations, travelling from Cambridge and Bedford at the top to Chelmsford and Colchester in the East, Farnborough and Reading in the West and along the south coast to Worthing, Brighton and Hailsham.

And they haven’t finished yet, we’ve just been booked to shoot another 8 locations, mostly for Think Ford and they have also just bought Beadles dealership in Kent. They’re looking to engage us again at the end of the year to shoot those.

It would be a challenge to display all of the tours and images from all of the locations, so we’ve selected a couple for you to see below.

Looking for a 3D tour of your business? Learn more about Striking Places 360 virtual tours and Matterport photography technology or get in touch today.