Dealers can get in the game at WinIt2011.com 

CHICAGO — Cars.com, one of the nation’s leading resources for buying and selling a car, announced today that it will be a presenting sponsor of Saturday Afternoon College Football on ESPN for the sixth consecutive year, reaching more than 100 million viewers.  To maximize the value of this sponsorship to dealerships, Cars.com has launched “In It To Win It,” an all-new initiative featuring exclusive resources and advice to drive traffic, capture more leads and increase sales.  Throughout the college football season, dealers can be part of the action at www.WinIt2011.com.

“Sponsoring Saturday Afternoon College Football on ESPN is an integral part of our ongoing strategy to successfully capture serious, in-market car shoppers and deliver that audience to our advertising partners,” said Mitch Golub, president, Cars.com.  “This year, we’re capitalizing on the fun of the football season with ‘In It To Win It,’ using it as an engaging way to help dealers maximize every opportunity to turn more shopper interest into sales and grow their businesses.”

In addition to broadcast and digital advertising on the ESPN family of networks and ESPN.com, Cars.com will be the category-exclusive sponsor for at least 17 Saturday Afternoon College Football games between Sept. 1 and Dec. 10. 

Features of “In It To Win It” include:

·         A video series starring Cars.com Dealer Training Manager Jack Simmons providing insight and tips to drive more business and higher customer engagement using video, mobile and customer reviews.

·         Winning Plays, a comment-driven “playbook” where dealers can get engaged and join the conversation

·         A sweepstakes to win one of 12 iPad 2 tablets

·         Game of the Week poll, college football trivia and links to other opportunities to get swept up in the fun of the NCAA football season through the DealerADvantage blog, Facebook and Twitter pages

“Our value lies in our ability to attract consumers throughout the entire car-shopping process, from researching vehicles and searching inventories to reading reviews and choosing their dealer,” said Carolyn Crafts, chief marketing officer.  “In addition to bringing dealers the right audience, we strive to partner with our dealer customers to build and differentiate their stores and convert that audience into more business.  Our sponsorship of Saturday Afternoon Football on ESPN and our efforts to support dealers through our ‘In It To Win It’ initiative both deliver that value.”

The sponsorship of Saturday Afternoon College Football on ESPN is the centerpiece of Cars.com’s fall advertising campaign, combining an integrated broadcast, print and online media buy with the promotional efforts of the company’s partners, including more than 200 local media partners, Yahoo! Autos, USA Today, About.com and other leading channels.

“The impact of investing in our audience can only be fully realized when we make an equally strong commitment to innovating advertising products,” said Golub.  “We’re constantly enhancing our site to simplify the car-buying process for consumers, provide our advertisers with powerful and targeted digital advertising platforms and offer dealers the best tools in the industry to merchandise their inventory, build confidence with car shoppers and ultimately sell more vehicles.”

About Cars.com
Cars.com was recently named the “Best Overall Customer Experience” by Keynote Systems, the world’s leading Internet usage research company.  Cars.com is an online destination for car shoppers that offers information from consumers and experts to help buyers formulate opinions on what to buy, where to buy and how much to pay for a car. With price listings, side-by-side comparison tools, photo galleries, videos, unbiased editorial content and a large selection of new- and used-car inventory, Cars.com puts millions of car buyers in control of their shopping process with the information they need to make confident buying decisions. 

Launched in June 1998, Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures, LLC, which is owned by leading media companies, including Belo (N.Y.SE: BLC), Gannett Co., Inc. (N.Y.SE: GCI), The McClatchy Company (N.Y.SE: MNI), Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company (N.Y.SE: WPO).

08/30/11