There’s a reason Detroit is called “the Motor City.” As the birthplace of the American auto industry, southeastern Detroit is a competitive area for car dealerships. That’s why Serra Chevrolet, a major dealer in the area, partnered with Waze to stand out from the crowd and boost brand awareness.
Transacted by digital partner Dealer eProcess, Serra Chevrolet wanted to use Waze’s unique billboard-style messaging to spread the word about their services. “When we first looked into Waze, we grasped onto the billboard style,” says Samantha Larsen, Director of Digital Marketing at Dealer eProcess. “Once we realized Waze’s potential for branding and impressions, we ran with it.”
Highlighting key services
The team at Dealer eProcess worked with Waze to create a Pin, Search, and Takeover campaign to raise awareness for Serra Chevrolet. They wanted to use this campaign to emphasize a service that sets Serra Chevrolet apart: walk-in oil changes, offered six days a week. The hope was that a message in the Waze app about this special service would give drivers the push they needed to navigate to a dealership and get that oil change they had been putting off.
“At the end of the day, we get traction and foot traffic into the dealership when we show value of some sort,” says Larsen. “We wanted to use Waze to highlight this messaging about walk-in oil changes because we know simple messaging like that can go a long way.”
Small spend, big impact
Serra Chevrolet put just a nominal monthly spend toward their Waze ad campaign — but this small ad spend still led to big results. In a month, the dealership received 160,000 impressions, 70 monthly navigations, and 80 ad clicks.
Serra Chevrolet’s success with Waze Ad shows the power of scaling channel partnerships in the automotive space. For just a small ad spend, car dealers can still reach drivers in their cars and drive major results.
At the end of the day, we get traction and foot traffic into the dealership when we show value of some sort. We wanted to use Waze to highlight this messaging about walk-in oil changes because we know simple messaging like that can go a long way.
Samantha Larsen, Director of Digital Marketing at Dealer eProcess
Continuing to reach drivers in the moment
Coming out of the pandemic, the automotive industry was in a difficult place. Supply chain delays affected inventory, which meant customers could rarely go to a lot and find the car they wanted on site. But with inventory coming back, dealerships can start returning to messaging that boosts navigation to dealerships.
“I think the fact that inventory is coming back is a huge piece of our marketing looking forward,” says Larsen. “We have the potential to send out messaging about actual car models being available on the lot, as well as lease and APR offers that haven’t been available the past few years.”
Serra’s success with this campaign underscores how Waze can help get drivers onto the lot during this exciting return to normal for the auto industry.
