Cars.com has been recognized with an Effie Award for its confidence campaign, which launched with two commercials on Super Bowl XLII and introduced a new brand message. Known by advertisers and agencies globally as the pre-eminent award in the industry, the Effies recognize any and all forms of marketing communication that contribute to a brand’s success.
“We are extremely proud to have been selected as an award winner in the Internet Product Services category,” said Carolyn Crafts, Cars.com’s vice president of marketing. “This award recognizes the strength of our confidence positioning strategy and the business results we drove last year as a result of the campaign – in sales, awareness, traffic and dealer satisfaction.”
In the months following the launch of the campaign, Cars.com saw record site traffic and consistently drove record traffic and leads to its network of dealers.
Based on last year’s success, Cars.com extended the confidence position with the launch of its 2009 campaign and an all-new spot, “Lifetime of Confidence,” which debuted on Super Bowl XLIII. This year’s campaign is driving similar results; It contributed to record leads per car dealer in March and has helped consistently push record leads per dealer since its launch despite the current state of the economy. The 2009 campaign continues with ads running on leading cable networks, including ESPN, where Cars.com will continue its sponsorship of ESPN’s “Saturday Afternoon College Football” and “NASCAR Now.” The campaign is also supported by Cars.com’s local affiliate network, including leading newspapers and television stations such as The Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, Arizona Republic, Los Angeles Times, KHOU Houston, and The Miami Herald, who are backing the campaign locally in print and online.
Cars.com joins other top brands whose work has been recognized by the Effie judges panel based on strategic challenges, ideas, ability to bring ideas to life and most importantly, results. By the time an Effie entry has reached the winners’ circle, it has survived two rounds of evaluation by experienced judges who work to ensure that the Effie is honoring only the industry’s most effective work.