Media sponsors include Auto Dealer Monthly, Automotive Digest, Dealer Marketing Magazine, Dealer Refresh, J.D. Power and Associates, and WardsAuto

Salt Lake City, Utah – October 16, 2012 – DrivingSales today announced that six leading auto industry media organizations are official sponsors of the 2012 DrivingSales Executive Summit (DSES), the most authoritative profit-building event for innovative dealers, to be held Sunday, October 21^st through Tuesday, October 23^rd, 2012 at the Bellagio Las Vegas.

Media Sponsors for the 2012 DSES include:

-          Auto Dealer Monthly (www.autodealermonthly.com)

-          Automotive Digest (www.automotivedigest.com)

-          Dealer Marketing Magazine (www.dealermarketing.com)

-          Dealer Refresh (www.dealerrefresh.com)

-          J.D. Power and Associates (www.jdpower.com)

-          WardsAuto (www.wardsauto.com)

“We are pleased to have so many distinguished media groups supporting the summit this year,” said DrivingSales CEO and Founder Jared Hamilton. “We are all about making sure that the trends, information and best practices that are moving our industry forward reach dealers with lightning speed. And with a standing-room-only summit, this year’s media sponsors will be an important part of helping us communicate the incredible and profit-building DSES agenda content to dealers across the country.”

The DrivingSales Executive Summit 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. 

The 2012 DSES offers and exciting agenda and 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; Social and Authentic Marketing expert Scott Stratten; Head of Marketing for MINI USA Tom Salkowsky; an exclusive presentation from Facebook and Google, and a one-on-one onstage interview between Jared Hamilton and TrueCar Chairman and CEO Scott Painter.

Additionally, presentations from some of the nation’s most successful dealerships make up a large portion of the summit agenda, with topics including best practices for running the BDC, winning strategies with Web Analytics, how to increase gross by certifying higher mileage vehicles, a case study on the FTC crackdown (how one dealership handled disaster), email, phone and mobile marketing presentations, and more.

After completely selling out a few weeks ago, the DrivingSales Executive Summit has negotiated with the Bellagio for more seats for dealers. There are only a handful of dealer spots left. For more information, visit: http://drivingsalesexecutivesummit.com/registration/ 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