What can we say, this was a whirlwind conference with some awesome topics presented! The sMedia team presented at the DVX, captained a team at the Hackathon (more on that later), and hosted a booth in Grand Ballroom at the MGM Grand.
We had a great time connecting with dealers and discussing industry trends. Although we were busy at the booth, we did get a chance to attend several presentations, including Kevin Frye’s presentation on his “2024 UX Study – Understanding Today’s Shoppers.” Kevin had an interesting take on car buyers today and took the approach of surveying 12 customers going through a series of questions related to the car buying process, finance rates, payment schedules, and electric vehicles. The survey results were never conclusive, which highlighted that all customers need responses and experiences that match their lifestyles and needs. His suggestion to dealers was to stay away from responding to marketing and messaging in a uniformly generic way. No one wants a copy-and-paste answer! His key takeaways were to provide choices, options, and solutions, especially for customers breaking into the EV space.
Other key takeaways from the event were:
- TikTok is still in its infancy with dealers and there’s some uncertainty around what the focus should be: organic or paid. As a beta partner in dynamic inventory ads, our team can advise you on using both strategies.
- EVs aren’t going anywhere. This was a larger topic throughout the conference than in previous years. As per Kevin’s presentation, dealers need to think about providing turnkey solutions for customers wanting an EV.
- Coop remains a hassle for some dealers, even with OEM programs launching every year. With significant Coop dollars on the table, dealers who can find and work with their partners for a streamlined submission process will have an advantage.
- Inventory challenges and slower sales due to interest rates have caused dealers to renew their focus on Fixed Operations. Dealer data from the CRM is being leveraged more often to drive fixed ops dollars and maintain customer loyalty throughout their vehicle ownership.
DVX
You may be wondering what the DVX is since we mentioned it at the beginning of this blog post. This was the Dealer Vendor Exchange which spotlights exhibitors in a dynamic, fast-paced format. Each vendor delivered their best elevator pitch in under 60 seconds! Our CEO, Erin, got up on stage and delivered a concise pitch with a punch. sMedia is here, let us ROAR!
Hackathon
sMedia was proud to participate in the second year of the AI Hackathon, hosted by Brent Wees. Ten teams of 4-5 people from dealerships, allies and vendors all came together to compete for the Hackathon Championship Belt. The task at hand was to create a 6-month content marketing plan for the Van Tuyl Automotive Group and present their pitches to a panel of judges. All teams had 90 minutes to develop their plan and create their pitch, the kicker… they could only use publicly available AI tools to do it!
Our fearless leader, Erin Richmond captained a team of rockstar marketing professionals including Jodie Stark of Auto Insightz, Karrie Shepard from Western Slope Auto, Blaine Agpoon from Super Car Guys, and Raul Areas from Van Horn Automotive Group. Her team used a combination of AI tools to create their plan, including Chat GPT, Click Up, Microsoft Designer, Hailuo AI, and Gamma. Most of her team was new to using AI and had to fine-tune the prompts being used to get the outcome they were looking for.
With a solid understanding of the customer and the task at hand and by working together, the team was able to build the winning pitch and create a pretty solid content marketing plan in a very short amount of time. At the end of the day, AI is hugely valuable but it still needs good input and critical thought to produce quality work. And the outcome? THEY WON!!
If you didn’t get a chance to attend Digital Dealer this year, we hope you found this recap helpful. If you’re asking yourself if you should attend next year, our answer would be YES and we’ll see you there at the Mandalay Bay!
