• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, October 9, 2013

Online classified car listings company Cars.com has selected gyro Chicago, as its business-to-business agency of record, after a review, the companies confirmed today.

The company spent an estimated $46 million on ads in 2012 according to Kantar. The B-to-B portion of the firm’s ad budget was not immediately available.

Chicago-based Avenue Marketing & Communications was the incumbent on the Cars.com B-to-B account.

“At a time when the automotive retail landscape is changing at a faster pace than ever, it is critical that we drive deeper engagement with our customers and elevate our role as a trusted, valuable resource” stated Linda Bartman, CMO for Cars.com. “Gyro has an extensive track record of partnering with brands to empower better business decisions among their customers, not just sell them more products.”

“It’s not every day that you get to ignite a household brand like Cars.com in the business-to-business space and beyond,” stated Doug Kamp, Executive Creative Director of gyro Chicago. He added that the shop will help “raise the brand’s visibility and reputation to an even higher level among automotive dealers.”

Cars.com has been a Super Bowl advertiser for the last six years but recently told Adage.com that it would not advertise in the 2014 game because it didn’t have a major new campaign to break. That would free up close to $4 million per 30-second unit in the upcoming game that the company can allocate elsewhere.  

Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures LLC, which is owned by a number of media companies, including A.H. Belo, Gannett, McClatchy, Tribune and The Washington Post Co.