Ball Automotive Group Uses Out-of-Home Campaign to Boost Social Engagement

Problem: Ball Automotive Group (BAG) sought to drive foot traffic to its dealerships and increase engagement on its Facebook page.

Solution: Teamed with a mall media provider to launch a promotion and contest encouraging consumers to "Like" its Facebook page.

Results: In 8 weeks, BAG's social media promotion yielded 175 Facebook fans, 50 test drives and two vehicle purchases.

Ball Automotive Group (BAG), an automotive dealership based in San Diego, wanted a new and fun way to drive foot traffic into its dealerships. Citing Mashable's 2010 Omnicom survey, BAG noted that 75 percent of likes on Facebook come from some form of advertising and 20 million people like a brand page each day. With this information in hand, the company launched an out-of-home campaign to capture some of this market.

Working with EYE, an international out-of-home advertising company specializing in airport, retail, roadside and university media, BAG took its campaign to a local mall. By featuring ads in the Westfield Plaza Bonita Mall (located only five miles from one of its dealerships) which included a call to action encouraging people to like the company on Facebook, BAG was able to not only grow its fan base on the social media site, but also increase foot traffic to its dealerships — ultimately helping it grow sales — in the process.

Here's how the campaign worked: The ads prompted consumers to log onto BAG's Facebook page, like the brand, then write "MALL" on its wall to be entered into a contest to win an iPad and XBox 360 with Kinect. Those that submitted an entry were then invited to come into one of BAG's dealerships for a test drive and a free gift certificate worth $25 at the Westfield Plaza mall.

The ads helped create some buzz around BAG. The campaign resulted in over 175 new Facebook likes, 50 people came in for test drives and two vehicles were purchased.

By engaging users in different mediums, BAG's promotion was a success. “We really noticed the difference these ads made in our social media strategy," said Jenifer Ball, chief information officer at BAG, in a company press release. "The tie-in with Facebook allowed us to build our Facebook fan base, brand our dealerships plus bring some people into the store."

Ball also noted that consumers who came into the store weren't just there to redeem the $25 gift cards; they were genuinely interested in what else BAG had to offer.

By reaching consumers somewhere other than their home with a promotion via multiple channels that included a special offer, BAG managed to build its Facebook fan base, increase customer loyalty and grow sales.