Auto Nation To Use Veridiem Software

MAYNARD, Mass., Dec. 4, 2002; Veridiem(TM), the leader in enterprise software and services that help companies continuously optimize their return on marketing, announced today that AutoNation, Inc., America's largest retailer of both new and used vehicles, is conducting a pilot using the Veridiem Enterprise Marketing(TM) system. AutoNation is using Veridiem's software product to quantify the sales impact of its marketing investments.

"Each AutoNation-owned dealership is a specialty retail business that sells a diverse mix of products such as new and used vehicles, parts and service, and finance and insurance. The Veridiem Enterprise Marketing system will give us the performance metrics we need to observe how these various retail activities are impacted by our advertising and marketing decisions," said John Drury, AutoNation's senior vice president of marketing. During its pilot, AutoNation will test the Veridiem Enterprise Marketing system within a single geographic market, focusing on the product's four end-user applications for marketing planning, reporting, analysis, and optimization. Upon successful completion of the pilot, AutoNation will evaluate using the Veridiem Enterprise Marketing system in other markets within its 17-state network of 370 automotive retail franchises. Altogether, AutoNation's dealerships sell 35 different vehicle manufacturer brands.

"With its marketing mix complexities, the automotive sector is increasingly looking to the Veridiem Enterprise Marketing solution," said Rick Cramer, Veridiem's CEO and president, "and AutoNation is representative of a growing number of forward-thinking companies who want to maintain their competitive edge while increasing profitability by measuring and linking marketing program results to the combination of investments that drove those results," continued Cramer. "When companies understand this data they can execute effective strategies for continually improving marketing spend. How can AutoNation empower its stores with the most effective marketing outlets? How can they heighten marketing effectiveness? Will an additional ten percent of radio time drive more business at the store level? These are just a few of the questions that the Veridiem system will help AutoNation to answer," said Cramer.