There are times, we’re told, when even Wiebke Ståhl and her team at Bugatti International are awed by their success. Bugatti International is the licensing arm of the famed automaking company and that marketing group has been led since 2015 by Ståhl.
In 2017, Ståhl and her group approached Lego Technic about a joint marketing project, a full-scale Bugatti Chiron done with Lego blocks. Never before had the Danish toy company undertaken a vehicle model in full size, and it took more than a year, and engineers from both companies, to create the Lego Technic Bugatti Chiron, which was done not only in full size but as a 1:8 model.
However, “When traveling around the world in 2018 the full-size LEGO Technic Bugatti Chiron drew crowds wherever it was displayed,” Bugatti International points out. “LEGO store managers reported that children would stand in front of the 1:8 model in the store and carefully explain each detail and feature of the real Chiron1 to astonished passers-by.”
Ståhl is an international marketing and brand management expert who arrived at Bugatti experience at Ferrari, Group Lotus, Chopard and Montblanc.
“The Bugatti brand has always fascinated me, it has such a great history and so much potential,” she is quoted in the company’s news release. “It needed to be more visible and properly re-established and that we have definitely achieved.”
“Wiebke Ståhl, joined Bugatti in 2015, she has not only become a passionate custodian of the Bugatti trademark but also engages and leverages the brand into new, high-end and high-tech collaborations, mirroring the French luxury brand’s unique image and iconic automotive product line,” according to Bugatti.
“The challenge is to not run after the obvious but to find the right partner, to search for hidden champions being innovative, ambitious and perfectionists in their fields.
“A brand which produces around 80 units of its automotive masterpieces per year, each of them a one-of-a-kind in itself, cannot simply do what other brands do and produce a perfume or handbag line under its name,” Ståhl said. “Products under our name are diligently developed, their technology needs to be extraordinary, with a clear association to our brand DNA, whether they are watches, sportswear or audio-visual equipment.”
Everything needs to have the same uniqueness and equivalent quality as the brand’s hyper sports cars, the company explains. For example, jewelry partner Jacob & Co. developed a Chiron Tourbillon watch in which the movement replicates a miniature engine block. The crankshaft turns and the pistons pump up and down.
“How much more Bugatti can you become?” Ståhl responds.
“We have found partners who reflect our vehicles’ high level of excellence within their specific business; not only in their mind-set, but also through their expertise and attention to execution. We have some extremely exciting and appealing partnerships in the pipeline, which will help to elevate the Bugatti brand into a completely new luxury sector.
“There is so much potential,” she continued. “We feel a bit like in the times of Ettore Bugatti, when he came along every other day with a new invention: from floor polishers, surgical instruments, fishing reels, a pasta making machine to a razor blade sharpener.
“Did you know that Ettore Bugatti patented more than thousand inventions? So, there is still a lot of room for growth.”
