Auffenberg Automall uses cruise and sports incentives to energize auto sales

Customer Profile: Auffenberg Dealer Group is an Illinois based auto dealer that provides a cross section of retail auto brands to the Illinois market. Auffenberg St. Clair Automall, a retail footprint of the auto group in O'Fallon Illinois, consists of a network of dealers that market the Chrysler, Jeep, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Suzuki and Volkswagen brands. Since April of 2002 the Auffenberg St. Clair Automall has regularly employed Odenza incentives to create promotional energy and excitement.

Customer Challenge: Charles North* of the Auffenberg St. Clair Automall, recognized the need for promotions that rewarded customers and drove traffic to the dealership. The highly competitive nature of auto sales drove North to find incentives, which would provide the unique difference his automall dealers needed to push sales.

Solution Overview: As Marketing Director of the Auffenberg St. Clair Automall, North needed promotions that had broad customer appeal. North elected to use Odenza's Silver Cruise Collection incentive to bolster consumer awareness of the automall and reward customers for the purchase of a new vehicle. The cruise incentive that Auffenberg employed grew out of Odenza's super agency partnership with Carnival Cruise Lines. This relationship permitted North's GM's to leverage the brand equity of Carnival, the worlds largest cruise line, supercharging the Auffenberg promotion with an affordable family oriented incentive. The 4 day/ 3 night cruise offered to purchasing clients provided Auffenberg with a product with high perceived value that lured customers with the promise of a free cruise. Additionally, the physical presentation and design of Odenza's Carnival Cruise brochure allowed GM"s to quickly establish credibility with clients and ease them into the purchase of their new car.

In March of 2003, Odenza approached Auffenberg with a newly launched incentive, the "Pro-Sports Roadtrip", an incentive package that provides a professional sport vacation that includes tickets and a hotel stay for the recipients. North recognized that this incentive could generate huge appeal, feeding on the rivalry between the Chicago Cubs™ and the St. Louis Cardinals™, fierce National League rivals in Major League Baseball. Participating dealers ate up the promotion and were able to create a unique brand of excitement that has resulted in superior sales performance. "No other incentive company has been able to provide this high level of promotional energy with a premium. Some of the dealers swear it's the best promotion they've ever run."

* Names have been changed to preserve privacy

• Radio
• Print advertising in Newspaper
• POP signage