BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce UK dealer staff will now have to attend a mandatory brand training course at the BMW Group’s new Brand Academy.

The new training centre will be the base of operations for dealer training and opened its doors last week at Wokefield Park, near Reading.

More than 5,000 customer facing staff and managers working with the BMW Group’s brands will have to attend a one and a half day course which combines seminars and workshops covering brand theory and orientation. Delegates will also be taught the appropriate behaviour for interacting with customers.

There is a knowledge test as part of the post course learning and behaviours will be evaluated against the academy’s ‘model of competence’. Successful completion of the programme is required to achieve level two of the BMW Group’s academy accreditation.

BMW said the course was intended to ensure a “standardised company-wide brand orientation,” and will become part of the BMW Group’s dealer standards. All new customer facing staff within the BMW group will have to attend the programme.

Jim O’Donnell, managing director of BMW (UK), said: “Branding is increasingly vital in distinguishing our products from competitors.

“We need to make the brand experience as rich and complete for the customer as possible, especially when they come into personal contact with dealers.”