San Diego, California, April 24, 2018 – Search Optics^®, a leading global digital marketing provider with expertise in the automotive industry, has announced a partnership with Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. and Innocean Worldwide Canada to implement a first-of-its-kind, fully-integrated digital marketing strategy spanning all of Hyundai’s dealerships across the Canadian market.

Currently in launch phase, the partnership creates new levels of synergy and establishes a single-source digital marketing solution that drives brand consistency across Corporate, Dealer Advertising Associations (DAA), and Dealership communications on a nationwide scale. Now, dealership marketing efforts will be fully aligned with Brand and DAA initiatives for the first time, with a goal of enabling dealers to meet and exceed their monthly sales targets while also delivering a powerful and connected customer experience.

“It’s a privilege and honor to partner with Innocean and Hyundai Auto Canada to achieve a level of digital marketing integration that the automotive industry has never seen before,” said David Ponn, Chief Executive Officer, Search Optics. “Through transparency, trust and shared audience insights, we’re breaking down the barriers that traditionally prevent OEMs from engaging with their dealers to build effective brand consistency in the market.”

The Canadian partnership will align dealer campaigns with Hyundai Auto Canada brand marketing across a variety of digital channels, according to Lawrence Hamilton, Director of Marketing, Hyundai Auto Canada.

“We’re excited to leverage Search Optics’ proven track record to implement a program that strategically supports our business goals,” said Hamilton. “This synergistic effort impacts all of our dealers across the country in terms of revenue and marketing ROI, and has already generated impressive results.”

During a three-month pilot program in 2017, a major dealership group achieved a 69% increase in website conversions, an 87% rise in appointment requests, a 50% boost in web traffic, and a 14% jump in sales. These results were realised utilising the integrated program’s full range of channels, including search, display advertising, social media, SEO and analytics.

“We’re proud to engage in this innovative, results-driven partnership with Search Optics and Hyundai Auto Canada,” said Caroline Canlas, Senior Director, Biddable Media, Innocean Worldwide Canada. “By uniting all Canadian Hyundai dealerships under the same integrated digital marketing strategy as Corporate and DAA, we’ll be able to amplify our marketing messages, increase the value of our digital media investments, and share powerful audience data insights to better understand the customer journey.”

The new partnership marks a deepening of the three companies’ global business relationship following a successful collaboration on a recent high-impact digital marketing program in the Brasilian market. An Australian market pilot program similar to the Canadian initiative is also in the planning stages, with initiatives in additional global regions likely to follow.