Viper Voyage Increases Brand Awareness and Trust
The Impact
B2B companies around the globe are evolving their brands, services and technology in order to meet the demands of the new B2B buyer. Businesses must create reliable services with seamless end-to-end digital experiences in order to win the buyer’s trust. Manheim, the world’s largest wholesale automotive marketplace, needed a campaign that would launch its Manheim Concierge Service and increase brand awareness and trust for its 24/7 digital marketplace.
The Mx Group crafted and organized an elaborate campaign that stretched across the United States. Using a custom-wrapped Dodge Viper displaying Manheim Express branding, The Mx Group helped put Manheim Concierge Service on full display via social media with its cross-country Viper Voyage.
The Viper Voyage was so successful in its first tour through California that Manheim asked The Mx Group to extend the voyage to four more geographic regions — Texas, Florida, the Midwest and the Northeast — for a total of 34 locations across the United States. When the voyage completed its run, we generated:
- A library of content — photos, videos and 43 testimonials — that can be used in future campaigns.
- Brand awareness with more than 8,000 total video views and 42,534 impressions on social media platforms.
- Over $115,000 for the three partnering charities.
If you would like to learn more about our brand awareness, social strategy and the Viper’s cross-country voyage, keep scrolling! Then get in touch with us if you are interested in revving up your B2B marketing.
The Need
The pandemic dramatically changed the used car buying industry for dealers. With in-person car auctions disrupted, dealers were in search of a more streamlined digital method to buy and sell used cars. Manheim’s solution was the creation of Manheim Express Concierge Service — a team that comes to support dealers’ needs at their lots. The team assists by inspecting and listing offsite inventory into a digital marketplace accessed by buyers across the nation for a nominal fee then, lists the inventory on behalf of the seller. Through this digital channel, dealers can buy and sell inventory with peace of mind.
Manheim strives to build trust and awareness among the dealer networks with its digital inventory solutions. Dealers need a trusted brand with the tools to help them locally source inventory without the hassle or fear of missing out on their prime inventory choices and thus losing sales on their lot.
THE SOLUTION
Dealers trust other dealers. The Mx Group collaborated with Manheim to devise an event strategy that would gather and share dealer testimonials on Manheim Express products and services. We had already established our commitment to the Manheim brand since our partnership began in late 2018. We assisted Manheim with the positioning and branding of Manheim Express when it first went to market. It was during this 2018–2019 product launch that we purchased the attention-grabbing Dodge Viper and created a custom wrap that was sure to catch the public’s eye.
The Viper’s full potential wasn’t realized until 2021 when Manheim asked The Mx Group to use the Viper as the centerpiece for an awareness campaign to profile the benefits of their app and Concierge Service. We designed a roadshow that would gather the testimonials of the loyal adopters of Manheim Express and share the advantages of the brand, product and service.
EMBEDDED LOGISTICS TEAM
The campaign started in the Fall of 2021 using the California market as the pilot program. The Mx Group handled all the organizational logistics of the roadshow including making appointments with the dealers, scheduling the visits with the Manheim sales teams and managing the social campaign at the same time.
Over a two-week period, we plotted eight stops in California, from San Diego to Bakersfield. Our strategy required providing Manheim with the recommended numbers for success criteria. Our Client Services team acted as an extension of Manheim by writing scripts, speaking with dealers in those locations and creating a map of locations with ideal travel routes. At the same time, The Mx Group facilitated the logistics of transporting the Viper with Manheim’s Ready Logistics. Ready Logistics is Manheim’s car transport service. If a car sells at a Manheim auction, Ready Logistics will transport the car to the dealer.
SALES ENABLEMENT
Transporting the Viper from location to location required intricate management for both the dealer network and the Manheim sales team. The sales enablement piece required that every location have a sales team kick-off with an information deck and training guides on how to shoot the video testimonials on their phones. The strategic goal was to make the testimonial footage feel organic. We asked for the sales teams to conduct the testimonials with the dealers in their actual offices to create a genuine environment that did not feel manufactured. We gathered the testimonials, edited the footage, provided the publishing cadence strategy, wrote the social post copy and sent the final product in a fully formed content package that Manheim published on its LinkedIn and Facebook corporate channels.
Manheim then further incentivized the roadshow by adding a charitable component to the campaign. Manheim’s Concierge team would travel with the Viper to each of the dealer locations to list the inventory as a “thank you” for providing the testimonial. The team had to list at least five pieces of inventory, and those five pieces had to sell. Once they sold, Manheim would waive the sell fee and donate the full amount to three charities: Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Girls Inc., and Toys for Tots.
THE RESULTS
At the heart of this campaign, we partnered with Manheim to appreciate the loyal dealers that do business with the Manheim Express Concierge team. Due to the hard work of embedding ourselves in both the logistics and Manheim Express Concierge teams, we were able to generate a library of content — photos, videos and testimonials — that can be used in future campaigns. At the end of the California tour, Manheim planned to auction off the Dodge Viper. However, the Viper Voyage in California was so successful that Manheim approached The Mx Group at the beginning of 2022 and asked to extend the voyage to four more geographic areas — Texas, Florida, the Midwest and the Northeast for a total of 34 locations across the United States.
The Viper’s eye-catching design made an impact on the dealers’ lots — drawing in an audience of in-person used car customers. The excitement of the Viper assisted with the charitable component as well.
The social engagement metrics were incredibly successful. Out of the three social-focused channel campaigns, the Viper Voyage had the highest impressions and likes. Industry standard for social engagement is 2% and both platforms (LinkedIn and Facebook) performed above that, with Facebook engagement at almost 5%. Based on campaign comparison, we met the goal of increased awareness with more than 8,000 total video views and 42,534 impressions.
By the end of the voyage, we had 43 testimonials and a final auction of the Viper with full proceeds going to charity. The Viper auction strategy included an activation and vision campaign. The Mx Group and Manheim’s partnership created presale excitement with emails, social and a telemarketing campaign. The day-of-show promotion encouraged dealers to visit the digital sale site of the Viper. The voyage wrapped up by culminating all the goodness of this campaign into one final video that was shared in a Manheim press release and sponsored on Manheim’s social channels. Last but not least, the voyage was able to generate over $115,000 for the three partnering charities.
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