Award recognizes the most innovative dealership solutions of 2012; competition and presentation at 2012 DrivingSales Executive Summit

Salt Lake City, Utah – July 11, 2012 – DrivingSales today announced the call for entries for the third annual DrivingSales Innovation Cup Award, which recognizes the most innovative dealership solutions of 2012. Any dealership solution provider can apply, but only six finalists will be chosen to present their solutions to DrivingSales Executive Summit (DSES) attendees, and a panel of dealer judges, who then determine the winner for “Most Innovative Solution of the Year.” Applications will be accepted from July 15^th through August 31^st.

The Innovation Cup Award will be presented at the 2012 DrivingSales Executive Summit, the most authoritative profit-building event for innovative dealers, which will be held Sunday, October 21^st through Tuesday, October 23^rd, 2012 at the Bellagio Las Vegas.

“The Innovation Cup Award has become one of the most coveted and highly regarded honors among dealer solution providers, because the winner and finalists are determined exclusively by dealers – the people who understand best how these products can positively impact them,” said DrivingSales CEO and Founder Jared Hamilton. “The DSES is all about providing the most innovative, leading-edge profit-building information to dealer attendees and, by allowing these ‘best-of-the-best’ dealership solutions to compete head-to-head on stage at the summit, dealer attendees have a unique look at the products that will help drive innovation in our industry in the year ahead.”

Last year’s Innovation Cup Award was presented to Dominion Dealer Solutions for the CarBinder product. AdVantageTec AV11, Cars.com Dealer Reviews, cDemo Mobile Solutions Mobile Inspector (Mi), DealerTrend Car Dealer Press, and MotorLot eSignature were named as finalists.

The Innovation Cup Awards are part of an exciting DSES line up this year, which includes high-profile keynotes from Billy Beane of ‘Moneyball’ fame, SEO ‘superstar’ Rand Fishkin, mobile experience expert Luke Wroblewski, and an exclusive presentation from Facebook and Google.  Early Bird registration for the DSES is now available through August 15^th for the 2012 DrivingSales Executive Summit Automotive Conference.

The DrivingSales Executive Summit is the most authoritative profit-building event for innovative dealers. DSES brings together the most progressive dealers in the country, along with world-renowned speakers, all focused on pushing the auto industry’s ‘innovation boundaries’ and translating the latest trends and business realities into solid 2013 action plans for every dealership department. The summit is 100 percent dealer-driven and has a vendor-neutral policy, meaning no vendor influence on presentation selection and adherence to a strict dealer-to-vendor ratio and is the only automotive conference where dealers decide the agenda, not the vendor sponsors. This translates into the highest level of learning for the dealer attendees versus other events where workshops are little more than glorified sales pitches. 

New this year, the DSES offers opportunities for dealers/dealer groups to hold collaborative meetings before or after the conference to bookend the summit and allow for goal-setting, debriefing, and planning. Please visit http://drivingsalesexecutivesummit.com/private-meeting-registration/ or email dses@drivingsales.com for more information.

About The DrivingSales Innovation Cup Award

The Innovation Cup Award contest is held each year during a general session of the DrivingSales Executive Summit. Six finalists will be selected by a panel of dealer judges prior to the summit, and will be invited onstage at the DSES to present their solution / product where they will have five minutes to present in an “elevator-pitch” fashion to DSES attendees and three dealer judges. These judges will have four minutes to ask questions of the presenter and then will score each product. The highest scorer will win the Innovation Cup Award for “Most Innovative Solution of the Year.”

All dealership vendors are encouraged to apply. Vendors may submit applications for new solutions that launched, or will launch, in 2012. Applications will be accepted from July 15th through August 31^st. A $2,895 fee is assessed to finalists who are selected to present their product on stage.   

For more information about the Innovation Cup Award and to submit an application, go to www.drivingsalesinnovationcup.com/. There is no charge to apply. The application deadline for the DrivingSales Innovation Cup Award is midnight PST, August 31^st, 2012.

About DrivingSales

Founded in 2008 and dedicated to the dealer community, DrivingSales is a business intelligence and data company that delivers unbiased*, profit-building information to make automobile dealers more successful through three distinct channels: DrivingSales Data, DrivingSales University and DrivingSales Media. DrivingSales Data houses the largest database of cross-vendor, dealership performance data in the North American auto industry and provides dealerships with the most statistically accurate performance benchmarks and metrics for their marketing and technology investments. DrivingSales University is a fully interactive online university that offers advanced profit-building strategies to automotive professionals through hundreds of classes taught by world-leading experts. DrivingSales Media connects dealers to peers and information through its global media assets, including DrivingSales.com, the world’s largest automotive social network; The Dealership Innovation Guide, an industry leading quarterly publication; DrivingSales Executive Summit, the top automotive conference for progressive dealers, and DrivingSalesTV, Web TV covering everything car-dealer related. Approximately one in every three dealerships in the United States has a registered member in the DrivingSales community.

*Vendor Neutral Policy: Dedicated solely to making dealerships more profitable, while also providing benefit to automakers and the industry as a whole, DrivingSales adheres to a strict vendor neutral policy through each of its channels. This means the company only provides unbiased information, not ‘pay-to-play’ follow up services -- and never accepts payment in exchange for media coverage or lets potential advertisers dictate messaging or create bias in any of its channels.

DrivingSales Media Relations:
Melanie Webber (melanie@mwebbcom.com), mWEBB Communications, 424.603.4340

Angela Jacobson (angela@mwebbcom.com), mWEBB Communications, 714.454.8776