Background

CARSTAR Automotive Canada was founded in Hamilton in 1995 and has since become the fastest growing automotive franchise in North America.  As part of its growth strategy, CARSTAR opened a 25,000 square foot flagship location in Mississauga called the CARSTAR StarPlex.  The facility is open twelve hours a day, seven days a week, offering state-of-the-art collision repair.  CARSTAR hired Polaris Public Relations to secure media coverage of the opening of the StarPlex.

Polaris PR Strategy

The new CARSTAR StarPlex offers consumers the first real, retail experience in Canadian collision repair.  Polaris aimed to generate coverage that would position the new StarPlex location as a groundbreaking new collision repair centre.

Toronto media were invited to the opening event and offered a tour and interviews. They were also invited to use a sledgehammer to cause as much damage as possible to CEO Sam Mercanti’s Mercedes (the Toronto Star brought its own kick-boxer to do the damage).  The car would be repaired overnight by employees on a time-coded video so that the media could see the results for themselves the next day.  This demonstration aimed to physically illustrate the impressive work that could be completed at the StarPlex facility in a short period of time.

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