CASE STUDY | Car City

Car City

Car City Supercenter is a used car dealer with seven locations throughout Michigan and northern Indiana. They pride themselves on helping consumers find reliable transportation by offering a wide inventory of vehicles and efficient financing options.

CHALLENGE

The used car market is very competitive with numerous dealers in any given market all making similar claims & offers to incentivize consumers to shop at their locations. Car City, one of the largest used car dealers in each of their markets, often feels the pressure of competition more than another small dealer. They are always on the lookout for opportunities to reach consumers actively shopping for used cars and encourage them to experience the Car City difference.

SOLUTION

Car City has been active in digital media (paid search, social, online display) for some time with a history of success generating quality site traffic and encouraging visits to their locations. With advancements in targeting technology we brought them the opportunity to expand their digital efforts to reach consumers who had recently visited their competitors’ locations. With geo-location targeting we can tag smartphones via GPS coordinates that have visited Car City competitors recently. Those tagged smartphones are then served compelling banner ads that differentiate Car City and make them aware of the nearest location(s). To close the loop, we track the number of tagged phones that view or click on an ad and also visit a Car City location.

RESULTS

The geo campaign was launched initially at two Car City locations, Grand Rapids and Lansing, as a test to determine if the strategy would be able to generate cost efficient foot traffic. The campaign was a success from the start, the click-thru rate was among the highest we had seen, time spent on the site was healthy and most importantly we could attribute significant customer traffic to the two locations. The campaign continues now entering year two supporting 6 of their 7 locations. The client is happy as foot traffic from the campaign is steady and they know we are helping attract potential customers away from their competitors.