Winner: C-4 Analytics - JM Lexus Luxury Conquest Model
When you're already the No. 1 volume Lexus dealer in the world, how do you sell more cars? To answer this question, C-4 Analytics approached JM Lexus of Margate, Florida to develop a proprietary predictive analytics model that would identify and attract in-market buyers who were not currently shopping the Lexus brand but -- based on their demographics, interests, location, brand values, vehicle preferences and browsing habits -- would be ideal Lexus customers.
JM Lexus had been the top Lexus dealer in the world for 22 years. The dealership already had strong traditional and digital marketing strategies in place, including talented in-house digital marketing and social media teams, an aggressive search engine optimization strategy and a robust pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. JM Lexus chose C-4 Analytics because of its track record in the industry and its ability to target customers with pinpoint accuracy.
Armed with competitive buyer intelligence, C-4 Analytics turned to hyper-targeted behavioral advertising to make sure that the right high-end buyers looking at BMW and Mercedes-Benz brands in the right areas saw JM Lexus’ ads at the right time. C-4’s predictive analytics model accurately forecasted the likelihood that a customer would buy a Lexus based on the vehicle they had previously researched.
The campaign was the first of its kind, fueled by a consistent message across all platforms that provided a custom, tailored web experience that matched buyers’ expectations.
From July through December of 2014, C-4’s predictive analytics model and the resulting digital ad campaign generated a 48 percent increase in impressions, a 43 percent boost in clicks and a 45 percent jump in site visits over the same period in 2013. As a result, about 10 percent of the dealership's total website traffic came from in-market segments related to Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi or Acura in the fourth quarter – nearly double the percentage from the first quarter of the year.
Most importantly, JM Lexus not only remained the top Lexus dealer in the world in 2014, but it significantly increased its local luxury-car market share to 30.9 percent. That figure represented an increase of 2 full percentage points compared to 2013, and it was far above the 21.2 percent national average for Lexus dealers.
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