For years, auto dealers traveled to live-auction yards to purchase wholesale vehicles. Our challenge was to drive online purchase volume at Manheim’s online auction site, OVE.com. We used Otto, the brand’s mascot, to get dealers to interact with the site by running a weekly “Where’s Otto” campaign.
Situation
For years, auto dealers had traveled to live-auction yards to purchase wholesale vehicles. Our challenge was to drive online purchase volume by increasing dealer familiarity and comfort with Manheim’s online auction site, OVE.com.
Insight
Dealers had not fully embraced OVE.com, tending to use it for one-off, special purchases. By creating a program that rewarded dealers for spending time navigating OVE.com multiple times throughout the 8-week promotion, we could expose them to all the site’s functionality in a fun way.
Application
Each week, Otto, OVE’s mascot, was hidden in six new locations throughout the site.
Dealers were driven to a promotional landing page (LookForOtto.com) via an integrated mix of e-mail, direct mail, trade print, point-of-sale and online advertising.
Dealers who found Otto were automatically registered to win a trip to Las Vegas, plus any dealer who found all six Ottos in one week won a branded gift pack.
Results
- Generated a 642 percent ROI.
- Dealers who participated in the promotion purchased 30 percent more vehicles online than dealers who did not.
- Current customers purchased 9 percent more vehicles online during the promotion than they had during the control period.
- Resulted in more than 10,000 sweepstakes entries, with each entrant playing an average of six times.
Client Feedback
“This program really paid out for us. The ROI was unprecedented.”
Corryn Zimmerman, Sr. Manager
Online Marketing, Manheim
