Serra Nissan Dealership and CMG Birmingham

Background

Serra Nissan is an account that had not utilized radio for their advertising needs in over a year. There had not been a consistent message, nor a strong tactic to drive sales. This is a direct account, no agency involved. They spent zero radio dollars in 2010 until November, when they decided to test the waters with our stations.

The Challenge

The owner had a manufacturer incentive to sell 180 units in March, which was about 25% more than a very good month. The owner was not even sure if it was possible to achieve since the number was so large. Hannah Black, his CMG account manager, encouraged him to go for it, assuring him that she would put all the resources of our Cox stations in Birmingham to work for him.

The Idea

Hannah worked very closely with the dealership's owner to come up with some great tactics, which included the following:

1. Trade a used car for a new Nissan, and they would give you double the Kelley Blue Book value, up to $10,000

2. Even if the consumer didn't get approved for credit, or were not happy with the trade, the dealership would give everyone who came to the lot with a used car to trade $250 in cash.

The Resource

They were already running high frequency schedules on 3 of our stations, 2 country formats and a classic hits. We added an urban format for this challenge, and also scheduled 2 on-site remotes, and used Facebook and Twitter to help get the word out. Hannah customized a total integrated marketing plan, including on air, online, on site and included social media to solidify the campaign.

The Results

He sold 189 units in March, resulting in the best month the dealership has ever had!! Also, one of the other Serra dealerships wants to now start running on our stations on a consistent basis. The owner has told his fellow GMs about how well this campaign worked for him, so we now have his confidence, and he has signed on for the remainder of 2011.