After record new car sales in previous years, the market experienced a slow-down in 2007. Even though they promised better mileage, too many hybrid vehicles sat on Toyota Carlsbad™s lot. The advertising goal was to increase Toyota Hybrid sales by reaching adults 25-54 who were looking to save money and time at the gas pump.

Try J Advertising created a campaign that spanned six months and featured :15, :30 and :60 second spots on nearly a dozen radio stations in the San Diego market. The commercials told the tale of the eccentric researcher trying to develop an inexpensive new fuel out of cooking oil and cabbage! The announcer informs him (and the audience) that he could make things easy on himself and instead purchase one of the several different hybrid models that were immediately available at Toyota Carlsbad.
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Posted under EAR Award Winners

You name the radio station and chances are Mossy Nissan used it to carry the message of the car dealer™s September 2007 Bottom Line Online campaign. Advanced Marketing Strategies, the agency that produced the spots, intended to reach customers who do their pre-shopping online before arriving at the lot to buy their new cars.

According to Kathy Cunningham of AM Strategies, Nissan was having a factory sale nationwide that we perceived as boring and very lackluster. We decided to put an “online spin to it and an urgent call to action. We wanted Mossy to stand out from the crowd, and at the same time, increase internet traffic and sales.
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Posted under Creative, EAR Award Winners, Online

When the daily newspaper Diario San Diego wanted to differentiate itself from its weekly print competitor, the publisher turned to radio to carry its musical advertising message to readers and potential new customers. Every month in 2007, the newspaper ran ads on four Hispanic stations – Radio Latina 104.5, Pulsar 107.3, Radio Formula 950 am, and Radio Hispana 1470 – reminding listeners that Monday through Friday, Diario San Diego provides the freshest news, up to date coverage of all sports, and timely items of interest – the best of both sides of the border!
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Posted under Creative, EAR Award Winners

North Island Credit Union put more than half its marketing budget into radio for the first ten months of 2007 in the form of the Island Car-A- Month Campaign. And it definitely paid off. The promotion, created by Buchalter Consulting and produced by Laguna Productions, aired on ten local stations. It was designed to secure the loyalty of existing customers and entice new ones to join the credit union by offering a variety of rewards including free gifts, special auto loan rates and the chance to throw out the first pitch at a San Diego Padres game. The promotion™s biggest enticement was the giveaway of a hybrid car every month of the year.

According to NICU™s Kelli Beck, the investment in the radio campaign brought spectacular results. We launched the campaign because growth in the credit union industry was flat in 2006, and a forecast for 2007 warned of negative growth due to a cooling economic climate nationwide. Instead, she says, The Island grew by 1,659 members (net, after attrition) in 2007, which amounted to a 1.17% increase. Additionally, retention of existing members was 91.4% for the year, while most financial institutions™ retention rates averaged 87% – 89% for the same period.
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Posted under Creative, EAR Award Winners