• by Tanya Gazdik , October 6, 2021

CarGurus is launching a campaign explaining how it can instill confidence in vehicle transactions.

The company is extending its capabilities to allow consumers to handle more of the buying and selling process online. 

What once was limited to research now includes tools for buyers to prequalify for financing, value their trade-in vehicle, and search from cars that can be delivered to their door -- all before contacting a dealer.

The brand brought in a new agency, Via, to work on the campaign, instead of Plum14, which it has worked with since 2017. The company continues to partner with Ocean Media for media buying.

The “Do More From Home” campaign includes four spots: “Home Office,” “We Need Space,” “Family” and “Moving,” and will air nationally on television networks and social and digital channels.  

“Moving” reveals that in select states, consumers can also now sell their car 100% online to CarGurus, instantly getting the best offer for their car sourced from thousands of dealers.

The service was launched in July and is currently available in Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Rhode Island, with more states planned.

The campaign personifies CarGurus in the form of two smart, helpful guides -- or Gurus -- who meet shoppers where they are, both literally and figuratively, to tell them about the breadth of services CG offers.

The new Gurus "perfectly capture the techy, helpful personality of the brand," says Sarah Welch, CMO, CarGurus. 

The brand has been working for some time on new functionality to allow consumers to do more of car shopping and selling from home, she says. 

“This is a growing demand that started well before COVID, but has since accelerated, and in our view is here to stay,” Welch tells Marketing Daily.

The effort continues to target value-oriented car shoppers of all backgrounds searching for cars in any price range.

Previous campaigns have focused more on the company’s experience, which gives consumers the tools to be confident they are getting a great deal.