Award recognizes the most innovative dealership solutions of 2012; finalists to compete and present their solutions at the 2012 DrivingSales Executive Summit

Salt Lake City, Utah – October 1, 2012 – DrivingSales today announced that finalists have been selected for the third annual DrivingSales Innovation Cup Award, which recognizes the most innovative dealership solutions of 2012. The Innovation Cup Award will be presented at the 2012 DrivingSales Executive Summit (DSES), 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 2012 Innovation Cup Award finalists are: CallSource’s DealSaver with Mobile App; cDemo’s Mi VIDEO; DMEautomotive’s DriverConnect Mobile App; HookLogic’s Lead2Show, and J&L Marketing bLinked^®.

“So many amazing dealership solution were submitted for the Innovation Cup Awards, it made the job of our dealer judges, who were charged with selecting the finalists, very difficult, but exciting! We all came away from the selection process inspired by the level of innovation in our industry,” said DrivingSales CEO and Founder Jared Hamilton. “The task of choosing the Innovation Cup Award winner will, no doubt, be just as challenging. We are thrilled that our attendees will have a chance to see these remarkable solutions first hand and presented by their ‘inventors’ at the DrivingSales Executive Summit. Congratulations to all the finalists!”

The finalists will present their solution onstage at the DrivingSales Executive Summit on Monday, October 22^nd. A panel of dealer judges will then ask questions of the presenter and score each product. The solution with the highest score will win the Innovation Cup Award for “Most Innovative Solution of 2012.”

The Innovation Cup Award is 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, renowned leadership trainer Jim Dance,  prominent Northwestern University marketing professor Florian Zettelmeyer and an exclusive presentation from Facebook and Google.  Last year's summit was standing room only, and although DSES 2012 will allow for an expanded number of registrants, it is expected to sell out. Register online 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. 

For more information about the Innovation Cup Award, go to www.drivingsalesinnovationcup.com/. For more information about the DrivingSales Executive Summit, visit: www.DrivingSalesExecutiveSummit.com or contact dses@drivingsales.com. Stay tuned for DSES news as it develops on www.twitter.com/drivingsales and on facebook.com/drivingsales. Participate in the conversation with the #DSES hashtag as preparations continue throughout the year.

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