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ATLANTA — Utilizing the customer data from market research last fall, Manheim began an advertising campaign in late May that will run for about two years.

It emphasizes what the company described as Manheim's deep understanding that its customers have a wide range of needs and business goals — as well as wide-ranging character traits that make them unique as people.

To hammer this point home, the campaign — which is being run in print, video, online and direct-mail media — was built around 12 characters that reflect the many unique personalities in its customer base.

Or, as it was put by Kilgannon — the company which worked with Manheim in creating the campaign — the different types of people one may encounter in the wholesale arena.

"Manheim is the industry leader, with a great track record of offering the most vehicles and the greatest accessibility," stated Rena Kilgannon, president of Kilgannon. 

"Our goal with this campaign was to motivate customers to move beyond just a functional association with the brand and to develop and emotional tie to it," she added. "At any given point in time, wholesale buyers and sellers will find themselves tapping into the mindset of one of the personalities represented. And, looking back, individuals will likely find that they have represented each of the personality types at one time or another."

In essence, just as these characters are vastly different, the needs of Manheim customers are as unique.

The characters include a cowboy, a rock star and a magician, just to name a few.

They have been released in pairs, with the ads including a "buyer" character next to a "seller" character. This is meant to emphasize that Manheim offers services to both buyers and sellers.

So far, Manheim has rolled out eight of these personalities in its ads, and all 12 can be checked out at www.manheim.com/youradvantage. 

"We acknowledge and really embrace the fact that on any given day, we have a lot of different personalities that represent our customers," Manheim's Lynn Morgan told Auto Remarketing in a recent interview. "What we were trying to show is (that) we get them, we know their businesses."

She further emphasized that the campaign is designed to the highlight the fact that the company gives "everyone has a chance to win."

Morgan also stressed that it is solely a Manheim brand campaign, and not an effort to pitch any one particular product or service.

"This was completely a brand campaign," she noted. "And we wanted to basically acknowledge to our customers that we heard them."

Morgan added: "The whole campaign is rooted in the brand research we did. It was established to reinforce Manheim the brand, as opposed to a specific product or service offering from Manheim."

Findings of Research

In conducting research, Manheim found that some of the needs of its customers can relate to, include reliability, transparency, finding the information to help make business decisions, having fair access in the market, and Manheim "being easy to do business with."

"We set out to understand dealers' perceptions of Manheim as a whole, not just how they felt about the locations they frequent most. We were encouraged by what we heard and learned about what is truly important to dealers, including conducting business in a marketplace that is easily accessible, reliable, transparent and offers fair play," Morgan pointed out.

"And they want cars if they are buyers, and if they are sellers, they want buyers," she continued. "And also as important, we learned where opportunities for improvement exist."     

Progress of Campaign

Discussing how the campaign has gone so far, Morgan said it has been accomplishing the goals with which it set out.

"From initial feedback, we are encouraged by the connection we've made with our customers by understanding both their buying and selling needs," Morgan noted.

Not to mention, the campaign generated more than 1 million online impressions in the first month. Moreover, she indicated that average click-through rate has been stronger than ad efforts in the past.

"In addition, we're very excited with the feedback we've received from consignors, dealers and wholesalers at our operating locations," she added. "As the campaign continues, we're looking forward to even better results in the future."