Automotive Marketing Specialists | About WDA Automotive

Revved up and motorsport obsessed.

Unrivalled automotive market knowledge and understanding

Real marketing engagement takes creativity, a strategic approach and a deep understanding of the market. This is where WDA’s unrivalled automotive market knowledge and understanding make that crucial difference – knowing what makes your audience tick is critical in being able to grab their attention and then engage them.

WDA’s success is thanks to a team fuelled by a passion for the Automotive sector

Aftermarket parts & accessories

WDA has been driving business for aftermarket and parts clients since 1997, within both 2 and 4 wheels and across the full supply chain. If you’re looking to boost business within this very fast paced and highly competitive space, it pays to partner with an agency that knows your market – and your customers – inside out.

Performance Road

WDA has won multiple awards for its marketing campaigns within the performance sector, including work for Pirelli, Scorpion, HEL, Motul, Samco…the list goes on. This experience and expertise enables us to quickly develop innovative marketing solutions proven to produce results.

Motorsport

From sponsorship and support of our own Porsche Carrera cup car, to European LeMans team promotions and prestigious rebranding projects for the M-Sport Ford WRC Team. WDA has a passion for both 2 and 4 wheel motorsport and are here to help put you into P1.

Automotive retail online

WDA can assist you with automotive e-commerce design, build and management across multiple platforms including Magento. Ongoing promotional support is delivered to drive acquisition and conversion using a range of marketing tactics including content, social, outreach and influencer, and paid advertising across Adwords, shopping and social.

Our story

The Marketing Specialist

WDA’s founder, Lee Waterhouse, moved from Jersey to Nottingham in 1990 to study structural engineering. Thanks to a family member, Lee was able to work between studies for a large advertising agency. He quickly realised that designing steel-framed buildings was not his calling.

Lee seized a junior designer opportunity and abandoned the degree. The agency was a multiple D&AD award-winning Direct Marketing Agency, specialising in the financial sector.

At this point, desktop publishing was just starting to blow up, and Lee decided to get involved by investing in a DTP night school course and was soon up and running using Pagemaker! The one problem, his agency wasn’t embracing the technology, and neither were the others.

The Automotive Connection

With a family background in motorsports, Lee had started his automotive journey on the Christmas morning of 1979, on a Honda XR75.

In the coming years, Lee became heavily involved in motorcycle trials, motocross and enduro and even competed at the national expert level. His father founded the YMSA trial and motocross association, and weekends were spent setting up and helping run its events.

It was at one of these events that Lee met fellow competitor Sam Neil, the owner of a very successful design and marketing agency. Sam mentioned he had some freelance work, and Lee agreed to an initial project, it went well so they did another. And then another…

Opportunity Knocks

Then the call came, Sam explained he had a bigger opportunity. The automotive brands they had been working on came in via a distribution business called Eurohelmets, owned by Sam’s father and built on its original AGV helmet distribution business.

Sam’s father was handing the reins over and Sam was keen to move some of the design and marketing business, which had been with his own design agency, to someone new to balance his interests in both firms. Sam offered space within his new HQ, provided Lee could commit to setting up a Mac-based studio, employing a small team, and bringing in business.

At the time Lee had just been promoted and purchased a brand new Honda Fireblade with the raise. He declined the offer, feeling it far too risky to give up his agency career, and a dependable salary.

Quadra Or Bust

Lee went out for a ride that weekend to watch the British GP at Donington. It was an epic race with Doohan just edging Okada for the victory.

On the ride home, Lee thought about Sam’s offer, an agency combining his automotive passion with his new career in design and marketing and his then pretty unique DTP skills. The idea was to offer a similar specialist service to that of his employer; but within the automotive sector – giving those clients a distinct competitive edge by delivering better branding and marketing solutions – faster and more efficiently.

Back then the Fireblade was worth around the same as a decent used Macintosh Quadra. Lee wrote the ad for his bike that evening and gave Sam a call. Unofficially and without even realising it, WDA was born that evening.