CarTalker(R) Audio P-O-P Devices From DirectCast Network Debut on Saleen High-Performance Mustangs At North American International Auto Show
18 January 2001
CarTalker(R) Audio P-O-P Devices From DirectCast Network Debut on Saleen High-Performance Mustangs At North American International Auto Show
DETROIT, Jan. 18 Two high-performance Ford Mustangs at the
Saleen, Inc. booth at the North American International Auto Show sported a new
high-performance sales tool for car dealers -- the CarTalker(R) CT2000 from
DirectCast Network, LLC, of Midland, Mich.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010118/DETH014 )
CarTalker is an audio point-of-purchase (P-O-P) device that allows a car
dealer to communicate with customers when the sales staff is busy or
unavailable, or when customers simply prefer to browse by themselves.
"After-hours shoppers in particular represent a large untapped group of
potential customers to car dealerships," said Darrell Jackson, director of
DirectCast's Automotive Division. According to a survey by Northwood
University, 91 percent of consumers visit car dealerships after hours, he
said. Thirty percent of these consumers are uncomfortable dealing with
salespeople, he said. "There's a market in the dealers' own backyards that
they've never been able to tap. The CarTalker helps them do so," he said.
CarTalker resembles a small portable radio (see photo). It has a plastic
case with three control buttons, a speaker, and a semiconductor voice chip.
The case is attached to a metal bracket that hangs on a car window.
Concepture(TM), a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, of Midland,
helped DirectCast design and manufacture the CarTalker. The voice chip, an
ISD4004 ChipCorder from Information Storage Devices, Inc., of San Jose,
Calif., allows the dealer to record a 16-minute sales message about a
particular vehicle.
A typical message welcomes the customer to the dealership and provides
information on options, price, rebates, and warranties, for example, as well
as the phone number or email address of a salesperson. A customer inspecting
the vehicle can push one of the control buttons to play the message in
English, another to play it in Spanish. A third button allows the shopper to
record an inquiry for the dealer or the salesperson. A DirectCast
representative visits the dealership regularly to download inquiries to a
personal digital assistant (PDA) and forward them to the dealer. CarTalker
records the number of times the message is played as well as the number of
inquiries.
At the auto show in Detroit's Cobo Center, two CarTalkers were mounted on
each of two Mustang S281s at the booth of Saleen, Inc., of Irvine, Calif., a
specialty manufacturer of high-performance sports cars. Saleen's cars are
sold by Ford dealers throughout the country, including Jerome-Duncan Inc., of
Sterling Heights, Mich., the second-largest Ford dealer and the largest Saleen
dealer in the country.
"We've been using 10 CarTalker units for more than a month," said Tony
Grimaldi, sales manager at the dealership. "Each unit has been getting three
to four inquiries a night."
"It's new -- that's the reason I went with it," Grimaldi said. "Any type
of new format of advertising or publicity that you can get is helpful in this
business because people have been bombarded forever by the same kind of
stuff."
At the auto show, the four CarTalkers on the Saleen Mustangs delivered the
following message:
"With 25 years of racing experience, Saleen brings you a high-performance
automobile, the Saleen Mustang S281. Available at Saleen Certified Ford
Dealers like Jerome-Duncan Ford, Sterling Heights, the nation's largest Saleen
dealer, with over 20 beautiful Saleen Mustangs immediately available for
delivery.
"The S281 develops 285 horsepower and 315 foot-pounds of torque. The
S281-SC option delivers a potent 365-horsepower and 410 foot-pounds of torque
with a Saleen Roots-style intercooled supercharger. Jerome-Duncan allows you
to easily step into your new and affordable Saleen Mustang with low interest
rates like 2.9 percent or rebates of up to $1,500.
"If you're interested in any of the Saleen vehicles here at the auto show,
simply leave a message by pressing the red record button."
"We have received 60 to 70 hits a day on each unit at the show," Jackson
said.
Founded in 1995 as Advanced Information Systems, LLC, DirectCast Network
is the inventor of DirectCast(TM) Media, a new category of advertising media.
Unlike broadcasting, "direct casting" allows advertisers to deliver audio
messages directly to individual consumers.
DirectCast Network's original product is Fueling Talker(R), an audio P-O-P
communication device attached to pump handles at gasoline stations and
convenience stores. Fueling Talker plays advertising messages distributed by
DirectCast's PumpRadio(TM) Network to customers while they fill their gas
tanks.
"Fueling Talker advertising results are demonstrating sales increases
between 40 to 300 percent for in-store products," said Mark McKinley,
president and chief executive officer of DirectCast Network.