FordDirect Debuts New Online Video Services for Dealers at the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention

Dealership-branded vehicle walk-around videos among online experience enhancements

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Feb 04, 2011, 01:02 ET

DEARBORN, Mich., Feb. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- FordDirect announced today the launch of DealerConnection Premier Advanced Inventory Service (DCPAIS), which provides Ford and Lincoln dealers with new digital marketing tools such as customized video for an enhanced online consumer experience. DCPAIS is available to the 3,500 Ford and Lincoln dealers on their Ford Motor Company DealerConnection websites.

Dealer-branded videos are created for new and used vehicles for visitors to view on enrolled Ford or Lincoln dealers' DealerConnection websites. Consumers are presented with the vehicle highlights in a voice-over featuring a real human voice that includes customized dealer comments about the vehicle and while they see an up-close visual tour of the vehicle as if they were in the showroom.

DCPAIS also creates a YouTube channel for the dealership and automatically posts their new and used videos. The videos and YouTube channel will link back to the dealership's DealerConnection website to drive additional leads and sales. Videos can be dealer-branded with a dealership logo, custom background and a dealership commercial at the end.

"With more consumers starting their shopping experience online, dealers need to treat their Web presence as an extension of the showroom," said Valerie Fuller, FordDirect executive vice president of operations. "Consumers expect video when shopping for a vehicle and DCPAIS provides Ford and Lincoln dealers a rich online experience that will generate more qualified leads."

J.D. Power & Associates reported 77 percent of new car buyers and 67 percent of used car buyers went online during the vehicle shopping process.(1) And the FordDirect video pilot showed that online car shoppers are looking for video. During the pilot, inventory listings with video generated 10 percent more leads than listings without video.

To help drive more customer leads to dealers, DCPAIS videos are tagged with keywords that support search engine optimization to help drive even more website traffic for dealers. The vehicle video presentations and syndication is powered by SiSTeR Technologies.

"With the explosive growth of video and constant evolution of technology it's difficult for dealers to stay up to speed on their own," said Israel Alpert, CEO of SiSTeR Technologies. "We're excited to be selected by FordDirect to help dealers take advantage of technology proven to drive more traffic into their online showrooms."

In addition to customizable online videos, DCPAIS provides Ford and Lincoln dealers with listing enhancements such as the ability to fully customize pricing including automatically display incentives and AXZ pricing.

DealerConnection websites average more than 2.5 million monthly unique visitors and drive more than 55,000 monthly leads for Ford and Lincoln Mercury Dealers. For more information, visit www.forddirect.com/dealercenter.

(1) http://www.jdpowercontent.com/OARBlog/even-used-vehicle-buyers-are-going-online/

About FordDirect

FordDirect (forddirect.com/dealercenter) is a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and its franchised dealers to create a comprehensive Web presence for dealers and provide digital marketing services that help dealers sell more cars and trucks. Sales from FordDirect Internet referrals represent nearly 20 percent of Ford Motor Co. retail sales. FordDirect provides dealers new and pre-owned marketing services, call tracking, lead management solutions, dealer Websites, search optimization and marketing, database marketing, marketing services for regional dealer advertising groups and other marketing services. FordDirect is headquartered in Dearborn, Mich.

About SiSTeR Technologies Inc.

SiSTeR Technologies (www.sister.tv), based in Dallas, Texas provides auto retailers, manufacturers, and industry partners with cutting edge video marketing solutions that integrate easily into existing online and mobile platforms including third party sites including YouTube. SiSTeR invented the Pic2Vid process of creating video using still images and has evolved to offer next generation stitch videos utilizing TrueVoice ™ technology.

Recently, SiSTeR was awarded a U.S. patent that covers the automated production of video files from still images, text and pre-recorded audio eliminating the need for a laborious manual process. SiSTeR technologies began development of this patented technology several years ago. They are currently a premier provider of automatically produced media combining video and audio.

SOURCE FordDirect