#RallywithRodi campaign raises $60,000 and awareness to fight prostate cancer

 ATLANTA, Nov. 16, 2018 – Cox Automotive presented its 2018 Community Impact Award to Joe Rodi, national auction manager, Chase Auto, at the 2018 National Remarketing Conference/NAAA Convention during an awards luncheon on November 15. This annual award is sponsored by Manheim, a Cox Automotive brand.

Presented by Julie Picard, regional vice president for Manheim’s West region, this award recognizes a remarketing industry leader for outstanding contributions to the community and the innovative ways they collaborate with community partners to help further their missions.

“Joe’s passion and commitment to make positive differences serving others exemplifies the spirit of the Cox Automotive Community Impact Award,” said Picard. “Community service is a guiding value for how Cox Automotive operates, and we congratulate Joe on his impactful and inspirational work.”

Rodi was diagnosed earlier this year with prostate cancer and made a personal commitment to help raise money and awareness through the Rally with Rodi campaign which supports the T.J. Martell Foundation. The T.J. Martell Foundation has raised more than $280 million since 1975 to fund innovative media research focused on finding treatments and cures for cancer.

“I am truly honored and humbled to receive the Community Impact Award from Cox Automotive,” said Rodi. “When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I talked with Mark Davidson from Manheim about getting the word out about everyone getting a yearly physical and that men should check with their doctors about when they should get a PSA test. We in remarketing are a close-knit group and need to spread the word and not let this issue fade away.”

As a result of more than 25 Rally with Rodi rallies and fundraisers at Manheim locations, numerous people have made appointments to have prostate, colon and other cancer preventive check-ups and $50,000 has been raised for the T. J. Martell Foundation. Additionally, Rodi is allocating the $10,000 Cox Automotive Community Impact Award donation that he is receiving to the T.J. Martell Foundation.

“I personally couldn’t be prouder that Joe is being recognized with the Cox Automotive Community Impact Award,” said John Urness, executive director, Vehicle Sales for Chase Auto. “His longstanding dedication and commitment to the T.J. Martell Foundation, even before his own diagnosis, is deeply inspiring to not only me, but our whole organization. Chase Auto is honored to #RallywithRodi.”

To participate in the Rally for Rodi campaign, make a donation to the T.J. Martell Foundation: https://donate.tjmartell.org/give/187129/#!/donation/checkout

About Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive Inc. makes buying, selling, owning and using cars easier for everyone. The global company’s 34,000-plus team members and family of brands, including Autotrader®, Clutch Technologies, Dealer.com®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capital®, VinSolutions®, vAuto® and Xtime®, are passionate about helping millions of car shoppers, 40,000 auto dealer clients across five continents and many others throughout the automotive industry thrive for generations to come. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned, Atlanta-based company with revenues exceeding $20 billion. coxautoinc.com

This is a guest blog by Candy Lucey, Senior Director of Marketing Cox Automotive, Dealertrack and Xtime.  

Jason Barrie from Dealertrack and Jim Roche from Xtime are both speaking at the DrivingSales Executive Summit.

The DrivingSales Executive Summit (#DSES) brings together a mixed-bag of thought leaders, innovators, and progressive thinkers within the automotive industry October 21-23, 2018; it’s also the best chance for professionals to truly connect in an educational setting with people who are thinking differently. And if that’s not enough to entice you...we’re throwing out all the stops with one of the biggest parties in the business.

DSES is one of my favorite summits of the year. Dealertrack DMS sponsored the event in 2017, and we’re back again to focus, problem-solve, and learn from our peers. Here’s what I think makes this event unique:

Access—Up Close and Personal—for Decision-Makers

At DSES, you are the decision-maker. And you’re right in the thick of things; meeting other dealers, industry experts, long-term pros, and up-and-coming forward-thinkers. You’ll get to hear from inspiring keynote speakers from all backgrounds, as well as experts who’ll share the very latest trends in dealership growth.

The Innovators’ Cup

When it comes to solving the biggest challenges in the automotive industry, the stakes are high at DSES! This year, five finalists will compete head-to-head for the “The Most Innovative Solution of the Year,” in the Innovation Cup Award Contest. A panel of peer judges will review each finalist’s idea—presented in just five minutes—with a winner announced during an official award ceremony. This is an opportunity for everyone’s wheels to get turning (so to speak) as, each year, the most amazing ideas are presented by creative thinkers who are actively working to solve real issues that impact day-to-day operations.

Less Selling. More Learning.

If there’s one thing that DSES does better than most summits I’ve been to, it’s education, uninhibited. Everyone has an equal chance to soak up as much industry knowledge from their peers as possible and to network with others who are solving big, big topics. And all of this takes place in an intimate setting, where the primary focus is to learn. Attendees can expect to share actual best-practices and to walk away with actionable ideas from people who are taking a new approach to solving problems.

Your Brand, Your Difference, Your Impact.

How important is your dealership’s brand identity to your overall marketing strategy? Are you working to build trust and a true connected retail experience? Have you decided on a clear path for how your company fits into the community? Or, do you simply sell cars down the street? If your marketing plan is to simply be within close-range to the demographic of car buyers you hope to sell to, you’re probably going to lose. It’s no lucky accident that DrivingSales’ founder Jared Hamilton navigated the economic recession by fine-tuning his plan of action and bringing together the community to do the same. Dealerships who thrive have their own master-plan about who they are, where they fit into their local communities, and who they help serve. Do you? Come find out more from other dealerships who are crushing it in their communities.

Breaking Free From Marketing Silos

The DSES event is such a powerful way to level-set your dealership’s marketing strategy if, for nothing else, to break free from the marketing silo trap so many automotive dealerships inevitably fall into. It’s a fairly normal scenario: each branch of your leadership sets out to make a difference, eventually building their own fully independent marketing and business plan. The end result, however, is chaos. What a summit like DSES can bring to your dealership is the ability to formulate a marketing strategy that brings every member of your leadership team together—to focus on the two to three things you do well—and to focus on the complete experience for your customers.

Technology and the Modern Dealership

A quick glance at the agenda reminds us all that new technology, like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, are inching their way into the modern dealership. What I hope this year’s summit will help dealerships discover is the ultra-important need to go back out into the real-world and ask your technology vendors the important questions. Are your services improving the lives of my employees? Are you making the buying process easier, faster, smoother for my customers? What have you done for me lately?  

Can’t. Miss. Sessions.

Spoiler alert: there are some amazing breakout sessions and speakers at DSES. I have a few of my favorites already blocked out, and I’ll let you in on a secret: the Dealertrack DMS sponsored Pool Party Sunday night is going to be truly unbelievable. Keep in mind that last year, there were more than a few popular sessions with standing room only, so plan ahead! I am personally looking forward to hearing Jim Roche talk about turning one-time customers into life-long customers. And, I don’t plan on missing the Iron Cowboy regale us stories from his adventures.

Like last year at DSES, I plan to take notes, share as much as I know, and be ready to learn everything I can about this ever-changing industry. There’s no better way to tackle the challenges we face every day than by coming together and problem-solving with the best minds among us. I hope to see you there!

Candy Lucey is senior director of marketing and brand management for Dealertrack DMS.

Recognized for innovation and service, the vehicle intelligence company receives third Stevie® Award in 12 months

 IRVINE, Calif., May 3, 2018—Spireon, the vehicle intelligence company, announced its NSpire 3.0 IoT platform was awarded Silver for New Product or Service of the Year in the 16th annual American Business Awards. NSpire is the powerhouse behind the company’s unmatched telematics data repository and analytics capability, capturing more than 326 billion driving miles to date.  This is the third Stevie Award for Spireon in the past 12 months — the other two earned for the company’s outstanding customer service.

Honored in the software subcategory, NSpire 3.0 powers Spireon’s FleetLocate, GoldStar and Kahu web and mobile apps. It supports nearly 4 million active subscribers and processes more than 10 billion data events from connected vehicles and drivers each year. With advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities, NSpire delivers actionable insights that increase productivity and profits while protecting assets for auto dealers, lenders, transportation companies, rental car companies and consumers. NSpire 3.0 launched in 2017, adding significant enhancements to the platform that dramatically increased scalability, type and volume of data collected, interoperability and mobility support.

“NSpire is the backbone of our solutions, providing the vehicle and driver data intelligence our customers can’t get anywhere else,” said Kevin Weiss, Spireon CEO. “With the launch of NSpire 3.0, Spireon was able to bring more new products to market in 2017 than any other year in company history. We are thrilled to see NSpire recognized by the world’s premier business awards program and add another Stevie award to our list of achievements over the past year.”

In addition to supporting new Spireon solutions in the automotive and commercial fleet markets, the platform’s architecture can scale as Spireon’s subscriber base expands. The NSpire platform can also incorporate data from third-party devices, services and applications, with limitless potential to utilize connected vehicle data for a variety of use cases, from improving traffic conditions, reducing insurance costs and dynamically changing billboards, to municipal and commercial planning.

“We designed NSpire 3.0 to capture 1,000 times more data than we collect today.  We’ll likely exceed 10 billion data events per month by the end of this year, but the applications and reporting features are critical to make sense of the data and drive business results. Ultimately, our goal is to allow our customers and partners to develop their own IoT applications that leverage NSpire’s Big Data and platform services,” said Rick Gruenhagen, CTO of Spireon.

“The nominations submitted for the 2018 American Business Awards were outstanding. The competition was intense, and those recognized as Stevie Award winners should be immensely proud of this accomplishment,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.

The American Business Awards program recognizes the achievements of organizations and working professionals across all major industries in the United States. Winners will be presented with their awards on June 11 in New York City. Full details about the Stevie Awards and the complete list of 2018 winners are available at https://stevieawards.com/aba/2018-stevie-award-winners.

About Spireon

Spireon, Inc. is North America’s leading connected vehicle intelligence company, providing businesses and consumers with powerful insights to track, manage and protect their most valuable mobile assets. The award-winning Spireon NSpire platform supports nearly 4 million active subscribers across the company’s growing suite of products for new and used car dealers, lenders and financial institutions, rental car agencies, commercial and local fleet operators, and consumers. Learn more at www.spireon.com.  

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Established technology advisor and early LotLinx investor brings years of AI and data-driven experience to the company 

CHICAGO, April 24, 2018 -- LotLinx, the industry’s #1 Automotive /AI/™, announced today that veteran adtech executive and Founding IAB Chairman Rich LeFurgy will be added to the company’s Board of Directors. LeFurgy has a seasoned background and expertise with programmatic data, mobile, social and AI, and will be a valuable asset to the LotLinx team and its customers.

LeFurgy has over 20 years of dynamic experience in the advertising industry, and a deep understanding of granular-level data for numerous companies and verticals. LeFurgy currently serves as General Partner and Founder of Archer Advisors, an advisory services consultancy that has helped both startup companies and giants like Google accelerate their business ideas.

Recently, LeFurgy served on the Board of Directors of Placecast, a location-based intelligence platform that was sold to Ericsson. Earlier he was Chairman of the Board of x+1, a company that was early to programmatic marketing that was sold to Rocket Fuel. LeFurgy was on the Board of adtech network Blue Lithium, which was sold to Yahoo, and Founding Chairman of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a digital media and marketing trade association with over 650 member companies. He has been an active advisor or investor in over 60 digital advertising companies.

“I have known Rich for over 20 years and worked with him on a variety of projects,” says Len Short, Founding Chairman and CEO of LotLinx. “He has unparalleled experience and understanding of today’s online advertising ecosystem, and has helped numerous marketing technology companies succeed. We are excited and eager to welcome him to our growing team.”

“I’m delighted to be working with Len again,” says Rich LeFurgy. “I was a sounding board and early investor in the company, and quite impressed by how LotLinx was early to recognize the importance of machine learning for dealers. Artificial Intelligence is clearly one of the driving forces of where online advertising is headed, and I look forward to helping the company take VIN-level marketing to the next level.”

Next month dealer executives can learn more about how /AI/ is changing the automotive industry at the DrivingSales Presidents Club event in Fort Lauderdale on May 6. At the event LotLinx president Eric Brown is a presenting finalist for the highly regarded Most Valuable Insight award.

To schedule an interview please reach out to kevin@clarity.pr and to learn more visit www.LotLinx.com

About LotLinx

LotLinx is an award-winning Automotive /AI/ company dedicated to empowering automotive dealers and the agencies that work with them, up to the OEM level. LotLinx-VIN Specific™ digital marketing can transform dealer results, dramatically increasing online engagement and net-new shoppers while eliminating digital advertising waste. Founded in 2012 and based in Chicago, LotLinx works with thousands of dealers including rooftops under the nation’s Top 100 auto groups, and recently expanded into the Canadian market. For more visit www.lotlinx.com