Kia to Participate in Carabunga.com Pilot Program
5 July 2000
Kia to Measure the Rate of Return for Online Promotions
Business Editors/Internet & Automotive WritersSAN DIEGO - Carabunga.com, a wholly owned subsidiary of Newgen Results Corporation , announced today that the company and Kia Motors America will participate in a joint pilot program to measure the cost effectiveness and return on investment of online promotions. The 90-day pilot program will involve 14 dealerships from Kia's Parts & Service Advisory Groups and will begin July 5.
"This pilot program will help us analyze the design and effectiveness of highly targeted promotions," said Lloyd Law, Kia's Manager, Fixed Operations Marketing. "We'll be able to see documentation of a Web-based system that we believe can generate highly cost-effective promotions."
Established in February 2000 as "The Dealer's one-to-one Marketing tool," Carabunga.com officially launched nationwide on June 26 of this year.
The Power of Online Promotions
In a recent study by Andersen Consulting, a clear link between customer relationship management expertise and financial performance of a company was addressed, "with CRM expertise accounting for 50 percent of the difference in return on sales between low and high-performing companies." Traditionally, hard statistics on the cost effectiveness of online direct marketing programs have not been easy to come by, with most online companies measuring the "click through rate" to the Where to Buy screen rather than actual financial gains. An important by-product of the upcoming Kia-Carabunga pilot program will be the measurement of online promotion cost effectiveness, a step that Carabunga.com feels is crucial to the success of any direct marketing endeavor.
"Preliminary results from similar pilot programs at other single dealerships have already demonstrated the effectiveness of our online marketing tools," said Jim Roche, president of Carabunga.com. "One dealership designed a new car promotion for the 2000 Sable LS. They sent a letter to 243 existing Sable owners inviting them to visit the dealership for a test drive and to receive a gift. Five of these customers purchased or leased vehicles during their visit, for an ROI of 25 to 1. What sets us apart is the fact that dealers will be able to calculate the cost effectiveness of their direct marketing campaigns through response rate and ROI, and then modify their marketing plans accordingly."
About Carabunga.com, Inc.
Carabunga.com, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Newgen Results Corporation , established in February 2000. Newgen Results Corporation is a leading provider of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and e-CRM technology for the U.S. retail automotive industry. Carabunga.com develops Web-based business-to-business e-Promotion solutions that incorporate revolutionary one-to-one marketing techniques. With Carabunga.com, automotive dealers and manufacturers use the Internet to deliver targeted communications via e-mail and direct mail supported by teleservice follow up. Carabunga.com promotions are designed to help the automotive industry effectively use the Internet to increase consumer visits to a specified dealership for sales, parts, service and/or after-market product purchases.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements about the formation and operation of Carabunga.com and the benefits of new and existing products. Such statements are only predictions and the company's actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to the company's ability to satisfy Kia and its dealerships, the response rate realized on Carabunga.com promotions, the acceptance of the Carabunga.com Web site by its customers, the introduction of new products by competitors of the company, and the Company's ability to successfully develop and deploy the Carabunga.com Web site and associated products and services. These factors and others are more fully discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in Newgen's Registration Statement on Form S-1 (No. 333-62703) and in the Company's most recently filed quarterly report on form 10-Q, each as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.