smart times: More than 1.000 smart fans at 25th anniversary celebration
At this year's premiere of the GLÜCKSGEFÜHLE festival at the Hockenheimring, around 1.000 smart community members from all over Europe came together from 14 – 17 September to celebrate the unique spirit of the love brand smart, experiencing a fun and energizing “smart times”.
Ever since the brand was established, smart has had a very passionate community. As an event, smart times is an opportunity to connect with like-minded people - and much more. Enthusiastic fans regularly came together to celebrate the unconventional brand and showcase their own smarts. This year, the event has a very special significance as it also marked the celebration of the brand's 25th anniversary.
“Even though a lot has changed in 25 years and smart has matured as a company and a brand, there is one thing our fans can rely on: Conformity is not our style, smart remains ‘always unconventional’”, says Dirk Adelmann, CEO of smart Europe. “It was a special pleasure for me to welcome our fans to smart times in this anniversary year. The passion with which this community supports us is remarkable - after all, many have come to the festival from all over Europe with their own smart cars. It was definitely an emotional moment, because we are standing in front of them as a completely new brand: With our all-electric and premium approach, we are offering a whole new smart experience. I am happy that we can make this journey together with our enthusiastic community.”
It was a big party: With the GLÜCKSGEFÜHLE festival as the perfect platform for the festivities, the program was packed with highlights – our “show and shine” awards, the smart booth with old and new smart models on display, the smart open-air cinema with an 80s flair, test drives with the #1, an exclusive glamping area and great live acts included.
100.000 visitors, 40 acts, 4 stages
smart has always been a pioneer. Only consequent, to celebrate smart times at the first ever GLÜCKSGEFÜHLE festival. The party weekend kicked off with an engaging pre-party in the glamping area on the smart times festival grounds. Followed by two days of star power: acts like Sido, Cro, Steve Aoki, Milky Chance, Sarah Connor, Clueso, Nico Santos, Alle Farben, Felix Jaehn, Robin Schulz, Harris & Ford and many more got the fans fired up.
Ready, steady, go: Test drives with the smart #1 fully booked
Not only on account of the sunny weather were the visitors able to run hot on site: on the exclusive racetrack of the Hockenheimring, the smart #1 got down to business. Visitors were able to register in advance for their opportunity to have a go on the #1 Pro+, Premium and BRABUS. The rush was so enormous that the slots were fully booked on the first day for the whole festival weekend – totaling an incredible number of 256 test drives.
Daytime highlights: open air cinema, exclusive roof top terrace and smart booth
During the day, smart kept its fans entertained with exciting activities. Visitors enjoyed exclusive movie screenings at the open-air cinema powered by smart – with titles like Dirty Dancing they were able to relive that colorful and vivid 80s retro mood, while at the same time retreating to some soothing shade and relaxing in the lounge chairs. To recharge their batteries for the next party, the Glamping area provided an excellent breakfast. VIP guests were also able to retreat to the Rooftop Terrace to enjoy the sun, or an exclusive view on the Euphoria Stage, where the next act performed, eating or refreshing with a chilled drink.
A stop at the smart booth on the festival grounds provided a glimpse of the past and the future: there, smart exhibited selected smart heritage cars as well as the smart #1, which can currently already be seen on the roads in Europe. Naturally, the new smart #3 was on display too, allowing an outlook into the future of smart.
This year's smart times came to a perfect close at the after-party directly at the smart booth.