Go Auto goes with ROUND
Go Auto has chosen The ROUND Agency to launch the automotive dealership groups first integrated brand campaign.
Go Auto has chosen The ROUND Agency to help launch the automotive dealership groups first integrated brand campaign. Go Auto, based in Edmonton, is one of the largest automotive dealership groups in Canada with 45+ dealers, 19 brands and over 11,300 vehicles accessible through goauto.ca. The company was founded in 1996 by Mike Priestner as Auto Group (MPAG), with the purchase of Kentwood Ford in Edmonton. Go Auto’s business has evolved through a series of dealership acquisitions over the years. Go Auto is one of the only dealership groups in Canada with all of their dealerships, brands and vehicles listed under one website (goauto.ca).
Go Auto is embarking on its first integrated brand campaign to strengthen its value and commitment to Canadian car buyers, and to establish a platform for further expansion. Go Auto has one of the largest vehicle inventories in Canada, and a 24/7 team of personal shoppers to help car buyers compare vehicles, find the best deals, book appointments, and more. Go Auto’s mission is to remove the stress from shopping for a vehicle, making the process as easy as possible.
“We are entering the next phase of Go Auto’s successful journey to improve the vehicle shopping and ownership experience for Canadians. For many, the experience can be stressful and confusing. For generations, we’ve helped Canadians to find the right car at a fair price, and have made it easier and more affordable to maintain their vehicles. We have many customers that have been with us since they bought their very first vehicle. Our new brand campaign will help others to get to know Go Auto and understand how they can benefit from becoming one of our valued customers” according to Michael Hladun, Senior Vice-President for Go Auto.
ROUND was chosen as Go Auto’s agency partner based on their depth of experience helping organizations to develop their brands as critical assets to help meet growth objectives. ROUND partners Paul Riss and Mike Davidson are agency veterans who founded ROUND in 2018 to provide clients with a more flexible, collaborative and cost-effective model.
“We couldn’t be more excited about our new partnership with Go Auto. This is a high growth, innovative company that’s out to change the car buying and ownership experience for Canadians. Given our deep passion and experience within the automotive industry, this is a dream come true for our team at ROUND” said Davidson.
“We chose ROUND because they have incredible experience in the automotive industry, helping companies to accelerate growth by building exceptional brand value. Their transformational work with automotive brands like Subaru and autoTRADER has been widely recognized within the industry. They also stood out to us as the anti-agency agency, real industry disruptors that are focused on delivering great work and real value for clients. They fit perfectly with our mission and values at Go Auto” said Hladun.
Riss and Davidson are well aware of how traditional agencies work. They’ve spent many years with agencies like DDB (Omnicom), Arnold Worldwide and Publicis. Davidson started his career on the client side at Unilever and Kraft, before moving to Arnold Worldwide and most recently DDB where he ran new business and multiple integrated client-service groups for over 10 years. As for Riss, after more then 15 years as a designer, art director and creative director at various agencies including DDB, Cundari and Publicis, he started freelancing 6 years ago and hasn’t looked back. This has given him a unique perspective on the industry, having worked with multiple global and independent agencies in recent years.
Davidson and Riss originally partnered together at DDB where they helped generate significant business results for Subaru, autoTRADER, Cialis and many more. They’ve won at every advertising award show in the world, including Cannes Lions, CMA’s Best of the Best and the Cassie Grand Prix. They know what it takes to deliver world-class work for clients. ROUND has strategic partnerships with a core group of the very best talent in the industry across North America, hand-selected based on their reputation and personal experience working with them. They are digital experts, writers, art directors, illustrators, designers, strategists, web developers, producers and directors, along with post production and media experts. These ‘Friends of ROUND’, as they call them, actually see the work from ideas through production and receive a fair share of the revenue from client projects. As a result, they’re very committed to doing great work.
“Our model is project based, flexible and collaborative. We work with fixed deliverables and timelines, at an agreed price. We’ve done away with most of the overhead that make traditional agencies overly reliant on the same static resources. We have access to the best talent across North America, giving us much deeper bench strength then traditional agencies, and at a fraction of the cost”, said Davidson.
Although details of Go Auto’s brand campaign remains confidential for now, it is expected to launch in early 2020.
About Go Auto
Go Auto is comprised of 40+ dealerships, multiple repair and service centres, several reconditioning facilities, in-house finance and insurance departments, a loyalty and rewards program, and more. Go Auto has received several awards and recognitions over the years for its industry leading business practices, including most recently; one of Canada's Most Admired™ Corporate Cultures by Waterstone Human Capital in November 2018, one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies by Deloitte in March 2019 and Canada’s Top 10 Insurance Brokerages in 2019. For more information, please visit goauto.ca, facebook.com/goauto.ca, youtube.com/user/goautotv. Follow Go Auto at instagram.com/goauto/ and twitter.com/go_auto.
About Round
ROUND is a creative and strategic partnership founded by two experienced agency leaders, Paul Riss, Creative Director and Mike Davidson, Managing Director. ROUND works with the top talent in the industry to solve business challenges through creative thinking. ROUND works primarily on a project basis with an agreed set of deliverables over a set period of time. Clients get (and only pay for) what they need. For more information, please visit WeAreRound.com. Follow ROUND on Instagram @round_advertising.
Michael Hladun
Go Auto, Senior Vice-President
MHladun@goauto.ca
1.780.908.1125
Mike Davidson
Round, Founding Partner & Managing Director
Mike@WeAreRound.com
1.647.554.5248
