The economy plummets. The stock market is in shambles. Major auto manufacturers across the nation file for bankruptcy at an alarming rate and plead for a government-funded bailout. Large dealerships struggle and close because they can’t find the means to sell vehicles in a harsh economic landscape. Smaller, sub-prime dealers are hit the hardest for lack of manpower and funding. Dallas-based Driversselect™ has focused on getting consumers with damaged credit into the cars of their dreams, based on credit and credit-building, forming several alliances with banks and lenders, giving multiple financing options no matter what the score. With online social networking communities expanding rapidly and up to 25% of annual business budgets going towards interactive marketing, the “little engine” saw the opening and reached out to us to build a visually impressive hug-site with the matching accessories. The primary challenges being creating leads and getting people the means to browse for their desired vehicles via their mobile devices. Welcome to the new age of car-buying.

We answered the call. Like AAA, FPMedia came to the rescue with not only a visually impressive campaign possessing the elements to breed confidence in a market full of apprehensive consumers, but attractive, eye-catching ad banners for juggernauts such as autotrader.com and cars.com — with the microsite landing pages to accompany them. In April of 2009, Driversselect™ ad banners proved to be the most clicked on of all dealers, tallying up a total of 16,000 hits and click throughs in just under a month.

We also utilized out knowledge and competency in viral marketing to create an all new E-blast campaign with strong imaging and back-end analytics reporting. The marketing proved that even the small guys can get noticed on a large scale, generating several leads and sales for the dealer. While the foray into the realm of social media, with campaigns on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and various blogs officially marked their explosive online debut, making it a runaway victory.