AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) is initiating a promotion to boost its brand through a sweepstake in which one person will be the lucky winner.
The vehicle sales company will launch the massive event as a marketing strategy to promote the business as well as a celebration to mark the sale of 10 million vehicles since it got into operation. The promotion will involve a coast to coast road trip operation with a $20 million budget and the $10 million lottery.
The move is the company’s strategy to turn AutoNation into a domestic name to improve the sales under the leadership of the current CEO, Michael Jackson. The promotion comes just two years after the company carried out a comprehensive rebranding exercise to merge 235 stores into one large chain under one name. The rebranding was similar to the one carried out by Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD).
Despite the many alliances, the company remains disjointed, and most dealers carry out advertising in their local regions only. According to AutoNation’s CEO, his company is the only auto retailer that can carry out such a large promotion. The promotion will be the biggest since 1999.
The intensive promotion activities will include TV advertisements, opportunities to win free automobiles and the ultimate opportunity to win an all-expenses-paid trip to the Go Pro Grand Prix, which will be held in California. The company will start taking in entries for the competition in June where the competition will take two months. It will close in August after the winner is selected.
For the last few years, the retailer has been registering sales in the hundreds of thousands with annual sales reaching over half a million vehicles. Only recently, the business established the rapidly volatile e-commerce platforms as a threat to its performance thus calling for the need to get out of its comfort zone.
The retail firm is now taking advantage of its large size and ample resources to keep the company on track as well as ensuring future success.
