Cars.com Mobile Scores Big With Super Bowl Advertisement

CHICAGO - February 10, 2011: Cars.com says they scored big in a notable way with two 30-second commercials in Super Bowl XLV, although poll's taken at the conclusion of the Super Bowl game indicate that their TV spot was the least effective. The site's mobile offerings were featured for barely three seconds on screen, and saw their popularity and usage skyrocket during and following Sunday's game.

EDITOR'S NOTE: TheAutoChannel.com iPhone app was the first of it's kind. The Cars.com app, like almost everything else they've ever done, was probably inspired by or copied from what we did. You could say that we scored even bigger because we had similar relative results after the game but we didn't have to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars to run a commercial that few people liked.

"It's not news to say that our traffic and awareness went up following the debut of our commercials in Sunday's game," said Carolyn Crafts, Chief Marketing Officer, Cars.com. "What really pleased us is how exceptionally well our mobile app and mobile site traffic went up. Downloads of our app were up 140 percent following the game, and usage of our mobile site is also up significantly this week. So while the analysts continue to debate whether ad time during Sunday's showdown was worth the investment, we can unequivocally say that even the briefest glimpse during the game can lead to tremendous results."

The Cars.com site launched in 1998, the mobile optimized site launched in 2007 and iPhone app in 2010. The mobile site allows users to read expert reviews, search inventory, look through photos and calculate Smart Target Price to find out how much to spend on a vehicle.

"Mobile new car searches for the automakers who advertised on Sunday were also significantly higher," said Crafts. "All manufacturers who advertised saw a lift in mobile searches of new models of at least 30 percent over the same period a week ago. Some of the big winners were BMW, Hyundai and Mini, who all saw interest in their 2011 models rise by more than 50 percent."