Rusty West, president and CEO of Market Scan Information Systems Inc., a California-based provider of digital finance, sales, and data solutions for the automotive industry, gave his team a simple mission for the company's presence at the 2020 National Automobile Dealers Association Show (NADA): be a top show-floor destination. That'd be a tall order for any exhibit, but it was even more so for Market Scan. Although NADA is not a traditional auto show, the exhibit hall still tends to feature more than a few covetable cars that lure attendees in droves. What's more, a sizable share of the show's 500 exhibitors are also digital-solutions providers, meaning that Market Scan's two new cybernated offerings – the reason behind West's ambition – wouldn't be the only game in town.

Suffice to say, West was on a mission to drive attendee traffic to Market Scan's NADA booth and increase brand awareness in the industry's crowded digital sector. So about six months before the show, West and his team met with their reps from Vonazon Inc., a digital sales and marketing agency based in Ventura, CA, that had been working with Market Scan on enhancing its marketing automation and communication strategies for several years. After learning of West's objectives, Vonazon CEO Kevin England was determined to hit the ground running. "Our main focus had to be captivating attendee interest and generating engagement among all of Market Scan's target audiences, namely dealership owners and general managers, people who are developing apps for the automotive industry, and those involved in car financing," England says. "Our business started on the principle of pre-, during-, and post-show strategies, so we knew to prepare months in advance."

Vonazon got to work preparing a robust pre-show marketing campaign that combined digital and analog touchpoints, but that only addressed one part of the problem. Market Scan still needed something more wow-worthy than screen-based product demos to win the battle of attention against other exhibitors. Never one to think small and possessing years of insight into what gets NADA showgoers' blood pumping, West posed a "go big or go home" idea for the company's exhibit: Build the world's largest slot machine and use it as a means of awarding giveaways and a one-of-a-kind grand prize what would cement Market Scan's position as a formidable industry high roller.

Raising the Stakes
Equally formidable was Vonazon's multilayered campaign designed to ensure Market Scan was top of mind among registered and prospective NADA attendees long before the doors of the Las Vegas Convention Center ever opened. "Prior to the 2020 show, Market Scan's tactics usually focused on a designated event landing page and not much else," England says. "To help the company reach its goals, we needed to utilize multiple marketing tools to generate the most buzz, awareness, and sales."

Sales may have been near the top of the list of Market Scan's NADA objectives, but it took a back seat to education when it came to the company's pre-show outreach. "If Market Scan had taken a hard sales approach right away, that would have likely turned away prospects and potential booth visitors," England says. "The goal was to slowly nurture the audience, intrigue them enough to attend NADA, and portray Market Scan as a forward-thinking company that will help them keep up with the changing times." To that end, the company produced a 13-page white paper titled "The Facts of the Digital Transformation, and What They Mean for You" and partnered with several of the industry's major trade journals, including Auto Fin Journal, Auto Finance News, Automotive News, AutoSuccess Magazine, and Dealer Magazine, to make it available on their respective websites and email it to their subscriber lists. Thanks to the magic of digital cookies and gated content, online visitors not in Market Scan's database had to provide their contact info before accessing the report – meaning they would receive future marketing communications about the company's presence at NADA.

Along similar lines, two weeks before the show, Market Scan and industry outlet Dealership News co-hosted a webinar that focused on the increasing digitalization of the auto industry and what professionals can expect in the near future. The live event attracted more than 1,000 registrants that were also added to Market Scan's contact list. These new prospects, along with the company's existing customer database and a purchased list of past NADA attendees, were then targeted with a four-email drip campaign urging them to attend the show, learn about Market Scan's two new offerings, and pull the slot machine for a chance to win the grand prize: a custom-painted Harley-Davidson Street Glide motorcycle.

But the pre-show efforts weren't limited to the digital realm. Print ads plastered the pages of show and industry publications starting three months before NADA. And approximately eight weeks prior to the show, a target audience of roughly 5,000 prospects received a 10-by-9-inch direct mailer containing details about Market Scan's latest products and a branded gaming token. The mailer explained that if recipients brought both the token and the mailer to the show, they'd be given two pulls at the slot machine. "Trade show attendees are so accustomed to receiving emails and other digital marketing attempts that they tune them out," England says. "This mailer was an extremely important part of the engagement process because now, prior to the event even starting, attendees had a reason to stop by the booth." And like all the other components of the pre-show campaign, the mailer directed recipients to a NADA-specific microsite that put education and information – not a sales pitch befitting a used-car salesman – front and center.

Finally, Market Scan and Vonazon deployed their most cunning tactic yet, one that many exhibitors never think of. In the weeks leading up to NADA, they launched a pay-per-click campaign to direct web traffic to the microsite. Using Google Ads, the companies identified certain keywords that prospective NADA attendees might searching for, e.g., "NADA 2020," "automotive financing," "automotive leasing," etc., and placed a bid for each. As a result, should a web user type "NADA 2020" into Google, Market Scan's microsite would be one of the top – if not the top – search results. However, Market Scan would only pay Google the bid amount if the user clicked on the promoted link, hence the name "pay-per-click." (While there are several ways to stage PPC campaigns, including social-media and retargeting ads, Market Scan focused heavily on search-engine results.) "So many exhibitors don't realize they can 'own' keywords associated with an event they're attending, but this can be a surprisingly low-cost way to increase awareness among a very targeted audience," England says. The PPC endeavor would carry over to Vegas as well, as Vonazon set up a geofence around the LVCC inside which people searching for NADA-related terms would be served ads for Market Scan.

Going All In
With attendees' interest piqued by Vonazon's multipronged marketing, it was now time for the massive slot machine to ensure each booth visit was a memorable encounter. The 20-foot-2-inch-high gaming machine – a collaboration between West and West Coast Display – was, to the best of everyone's knowledge, the world's largest. Market Scan even looked into having it certified as such by Guinness World Records Ltd. right there on the show floor, but the timeline and logistics of doing so were too difficult.
Regardless of its unofficial status, the towering attraction (which Market Scan secured a gaming license to operate) proved able to hold its own against the displays in nearby stands, as evidenced by the nonstop action it generated. Visitors who received the direct mailer and remembered to bring their special tokens received two pulls. Passing showgoers were welcome to cool their heels and receive a token once it was their turn at the machine, but nearby staffers offered a sort of fast pass. If an attendee was willing to take a few steps to a demo station and learn about Market Scan's offerings, he or she would then be escorted to the front of the line and given an extra pull. Depending on what the giant reels showed when they came to a stop, players left with branded earbuds, Tile-brand trackers, or nothing at all. A lucky nine won iPads, which qualified them to come back for "The Tournament Spinoff" later in the show. Word of the Harley giveaway, valued at more than $37,000, spread like wildfire, and hordes of attendees descended on Market Scan's booth to witness the dramatic finale. After a series of gasp-inducing spins, the motorcycle was won by an attendee who burst into tears of joy amid cheers and applause from hundreds of onlookers.

Hitting the Jackpot
West's goal of being No. 1 at NADA may have been a tad subjective, but there's no denying the two-pronged approach of staging an extensive pre-show marketing campaign and a couldn't-miss on-site attraction led to enviable results. Vonazon calculates that the herculean slot machine sat idle for only 12 cumulative minutes during the three-day event, or less than 1 percent of show-floor hours. Thanks to that spike in booth traffic, Market Scan did enough business in the exhibit to exceed its NADA investment. And within two years of the show, Market Scan's services were being used in more than 10,500 locations, compared to approximately 3,500 at the start of 2020. "Of course, the growth we've experienced since the 2020 NADA conference can't be attributed solely to the show, but there's no denying the event helped us scale and grow by increasing our brand awareness and establishing Market Scan as an authority within the automotive industry," West says. It's tempting to say that Market Scan bet big and won, but strategies this sound are anything but a gamble. E