• by Tanya Gazdik , May 7, 2018

A three-month digital marketing pilot program at Hyundai dealerships in Canada yielded an 87% increase in appointment requests and a 69% jump in website conversions. Other results include a 50% boost in website traffic and a 14% jump in sales.

The multi-tier digital strategy program was conducted by Search Optics and Innocean Worldwide Canada for Hyundai Auto Canada. The company is calling it a “first-of-its-kind, fully-integrated digital marketing strategy spanning all of Hyundai’s dealerships across the Canadian market,” said David Ponn, chief executive officer, Search Optics. 

“Through transparency, trust and shared audience insights, we’re breaking down the barriers that traditionally prevent OEMs from engaging with their dealers to build effective brand consistency in the market,” Ponn says in a release.

These results were realized utilizing the integrated program’s full range of channels, including search, display advertising, social media, SEO and analytics. Search Optics is based in San Diego, Calif., and Ferndale, Mich. 

Currently in launch phase, the partnership establishes a single-source digital marketing solution that drives brand consistency across corporate, dealer advertising associations (DAA), and dealership communications on a nationwide scale. 

Dealership marketing efforts will be fully aligned with brand and DAA initiatives for the first time, with a goal of enabling dealers to meet and exceed their monthly sales targets while also delivering a powerful and connected customer experience.

The partnership will align dealer campaigns with Hyundai Auto Canada brand marketing across a variety of digital channels, according to Lawrence Hamilton, director of marketing, Hyundai Auto Canada.

“We’re excited to leverage Search Optics’ proven track record to implement a program that strategically supports our business goals,” said Hamilton in a release. “This synergistic effort impacts all of our dealers across the country in terms of revenue and marketing ROI and has already generated impressive results.”

The partnership marks a deepening of the three companies’ global business relationship following a successful collaboration on a recent high-impact digital marketing program in the Brazilian market. 

An Australian market pilot program similar to the Canadian initiative is also in the planning stages, with initiatives in additional global regions likely to follow.

“By uniting all Canadian Hyundai dealerships under the same integrated digital marketing strategy as Corporate and DAA, we’ll be able to amplify our marketing messages, increase the value of our digital media investments, and share powerful audience data insights to better understand the customer journey,” said Caroline Canlas, senior director, Biddable Media, Innocean Worldwide Canada.