How Pedders Turned a Bar Fridge Into Their Best Dealership Promotion
Most automotive dealership promotions follow a familiar arc: run a discount, boost the socials, hope for foot traffic. Pedders Suspension Rockhampton wanted something different. They wanted a competition giveaway that would cut through — something nobody else in the local market was doing, something that would live on a winner's countertop for years instead of disappearing into a news feed within 48 hours.
The brief was straightforward: take the Pedders Viking — the mascot that's been on workshop walls and race cars for decades — and put it on a bar fridge. Not a sticker on a generic unit. A full-body, high-gloss vinyl wrap that turns a compact bar fridge into a Pedders showpiece. The kind of thing that, when you see it in someone's garage, you immediately know who gave it to them.
A branded bar fridge costs roughly the same as a month of local radio. Radio gives you four weeks. A fridge gives you five to ten years.
Why a Bar Fridge Works as a Dealership Promotion
The maths is simple. A branded bar fridge costs roughly the same as a month of local radio. Radio gives you background noise for four weeks. A bar fridge gives you brand visibility in someone's home, workshop, or man cave for the next five to ten years. Every time the winner opens it, every time a mate asks about it, every time it shows up in a barbecue photo — that's a brand impression that cost nothing after the initial purchase.
Dealerships have figured this out. Stubby holders and caps get thrown in a drawer. A branded fridge is furniture. It stays. It starts conversations.
The Build
The wrap is a full-body gloss laminate on a compact bar fridge. The Viking mascot covers the entire door in full colour — not a scaled-down logo, but the complete illustration at a size that does it justice. Pedders wordmark and Rockhampton dealership branding run across the body panels. Gloss finish was chosen specifically because it performs under the fluorescent lighting typical of showroom floors and workshop environments — matte absorbs light, gloss bounces it.
Cast vinyl rated for five-plus years. In a garage or workshop, this wrap will outlast the tyres on whatever vehicle is parked next to it.
What Happened
The fridge sat in the dealership showroom before the competition launched. Even before anyone could win it, it was doing work — customers noticed it, photographed it, asked about it. Staff started using it as a conversation piece during service drop-offs. When the competition went live on social media, the post outperformed every other piece of content the dealership had published that year. Not by a small margin.
After the draw, the winning customer posted their own photos. Their mates commented. Some tagged Pedders. The dealership got organic reach that no boosted post could have generated, because it was genuine — someone was genuinely excited about a branded fridge, and that excitement is visible.
What Dealerships Can Take From This
Compare the cost of a branded bar fridge against a month of local radio advertising. Now compare the lifespan. The fridge wins on every metric except immediacy — and if you put it in the showroom first, you get that too. It works before the giveaway, during the giveaway, and for years after.
How Pedders Turned a Bar Fridge Into Their Best Dealership Promotion
Pedders Suspension Rockhampton turned a branded bar fridge into their highest-performing dealership promotion — outperforming every social post that year.
Most automotive dealership promotions follow a familiar arc: run a discount, boost the socials, hope for foot traffic. Pedders Suspension Rockhampton wanted something different. They wanted a competition giveaway that would cut through — something nobody else in the local market was doing, something that would live on a winner's countertop for years instead of disappearing into a news feed within 48 hours.
The brief was straightforward: take the Pedders Viking — the mascot that's been on workshop walls and race cars for decades — and put it on a bar fridge. Not a sticker on a generic unit. A full-body, high-gloss vinyl wrap that turns a compact bar fridge into a Pedders showpiece. The kind of thing that, when you see it in someone's garage, you immediately know who gave it to them.
A branded bar fridge costs roughly the same as a month of local radio. Radio gives you four weeks. A fridge gives you five to ten years.
Why a Bar Fridge Works as a Dealership Promotion
The maths is simple. A branded bar fridge costs roughly the same as a month of local radio. Radio gives you background noise for four weeks. A bar fridge gives you brand visibility in someone's home, workshop, or man cave for the next five to ten years. Every time the winner opens it, every time a mate asks about it, every time it shows up in a barbecue photo — that's a brand impression that cost nothing after the initial purchase.
Dealerships have figured this out. Stubby holders and caps get thrown in a drawer. A branded fridge is furniture. It stays. It starts conversations.
The Build
The wrap is a full-body gloss laminate on a compact bar fridge. The Viking mascot covers the entire door in full colour — not a scaled-down logo, but the complete illustration at a size that does it justice. Pedders wordmark and Rockhampton dealership branding run across the body panels. Gloss finish was chosen specifically because it performs under the fluorescent lighting typical of showroom floors and workshop environments — matte absorbs light, gloss bounces it.
Cast vinyl rated for five-plus years. In a garage or workshop, this wrap will outlast the tyres on whatever vehicle is parked next to it.
What Happened
The fridge sat in the dealership showroom before the competition launched. Even before anyone could win it, it was doing work — customers noticed it, photographed it, asked about it. Staff started using it as a conversation piece during service drop-offs. When the competition went live on social media, the post outperformed every other piece of content the dealership had published that year. Not by a small margin.
After the draw, the winning customer posted their own photos. Their mates commented. Some tagged Pedders. The dealership got organic reach that no boosted post could have generated, because it was genuine — someone was genuinely excited about a branded fridge, and that excitement is visible.
What Dealerships Can Take From This
Compare the cost of a branded bar fridge against a month of local radio advertising. Now compare the lifespan. The fridge wins on every metric except immediacy — and if you put it in the showroom first, you get that too. It works before the giveaway, during the giveaway, and for years after.