St. Louis Post-Dispatch Succeeds in a Challenging Automotive Market

CARLSBAD, CA (May 19, 2009) – The St Louis Post-Dispatch has achieved a feat that’s become very difficult in the current recession: growing their automotive classified business thanks to creative thinking and a range of cutting-edge online tools from Adicio Inc., the leading provider of interactive classified advertising software solutions for media companies.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch rates #1 in their market for reach (56% of adults weekly and almost a 1,000,000 readers each Sunday); community news source (16 community newspapers covering the St. Louis market); local website (2.4 million average unique visitors each month); and shared mail program (1,000,000 households with more than 280 advertising zones).

Amanda Laing, St. Louis Post-Dispatch national online automotive sales manager offered best practices on how to succeed in a challenging automotive market at Adicio’s recent annual Client Conference. Her topic, ‘Diversifying Print & Online Dealer Packages in a Down Economy’ explained how the Post-Dispatch developed a new product that offered St. Louis consumers a diverse marketplace to shop for new and pre-owned vehicles, which catered specifically to consumers’ shopping needs, even in a downturn.

The Post-Dispatch created the niche publication, ‘Rides the Magazine,’ as a medium to help readers find pre-owned vehicles. By utilizing a Reverse Publication feed from Adicio, they were able to integrate all of their dealers’ inventory into ‘Rides the Magazine’s’ pagination system very easily, and have the inventory automatically updated on a daily basis. This reverse pub feed powers all of their dealer information, vehicle images and descriptions used for the publication, and allows them to simply select each vehicle without having to manually upload the information each time. Their first issue was distributed to more than 1,000 locations.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch also created “Rides the Magazine Dealer Packages”, enabling them to offer ONE package with an all-encompassing demographic reach. To date, they have been able to grow their online dealer count by 19.1% with a corresponding revenue growth of 22.9%.

“We took advantage of Adicio’s technology and tools, and spread widgets across our re-designed ‘Rides’ channel front and all of our newly added pages,” said Laing. “We also added several new ad positions and sponsorship opportunities including video upsells, which helped us generate additional revenue. This gave us the ability to deliver an abundance of automotive information to St. Louis consumers at one location, while offering our dealers top-of-the-line interactive automotive products.”

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch also restructured their Dealer Inventory packaging options to include a wealth of online products, many of which are exclusive and make-specific, giving new and used car dealers multiple options. They deployed new Adicio Widgets, including a Video Reviews Widget, as well as Featured Dealers and Featured Rides Widgets to drive traffic and open up new sources of online revenue. In addition, they added sponsorships for dealers, most searched vehicles, and other vehicle types to further drive traffic and interest. They also offer extensive research content from Kelley Blue Book, J.D. Power & Associates, IntelliChoice, Chrome Systems, eVox and The Drivers Seat TV, to help buyers make the most informed decisions on their next vehicle purchase, whether it’s a car, truck, RV, airplane or power sport utility vehicle.

“We design our tools and widgets to give our clients a competitive edge,” said Deep Menon, general manager of Motors at Adicio. “And that, in part, is what has enabled the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to grow their revenue and traffic at a much faster pace than one would expect given the economy. But the Post-Dispatch has also done a tremendous job of building their market share and brand awareness to meet and exceed their strategic goals. Adicio clients are following their example and implementing some of the Post-Dispatch’s innovative ideas to offset the negative effects of the current market,” he says.

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About Adicio, Inc.

Adicio develops interactive classified advertising software solutions for the careers, real estate, and motors markets, which serve the Internet’s leading media companies and web portals. With its award-winning technology and enterprise-class software platforms, domain expertise, and customer service, Adicio delivers a private-label application that seamlessly integrates within online classified advertising offerings, enabling clients to generate revenue and retain their brand while building and managing their online classified efforts. Clients can deploy Adicio’s software as a turnkey solution or customize Adicio’s application to leverage existing brand strategy and support online sales and marketing objectives. Adicio also powers CareerCast.com, a job search portal and JobsRated.com, where 200 jobs across North America are ranked based on detailed analysis of specific careers factors. For more information, please visit www.adicio.com, or call 760.602.9502 or 800.276.1332.

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Media Contact: Beth Brody
Brody PR (for Adicio)
609-397-3737
Beth {at} BrodyPR(.)com