ATLANTA – October 24, 2012 – Rick Wainschel, vice president of automotive insights at AutoTrader.com, and Erica Bigley, digital media manager at Ford Motor Company, will present a session at the J.D. Power 2012 Automotive Marketing Roundtable

“With the largest audience of online shoppers, as well as access to proprietary technologies, we at AutoTrader.com recently undertook a major initiative to dig deeper than anyone has before into the path that new car buyers are taking as they shop online,” said Wainschel. “Though we’re still in the initial analysis phases with the data, the insights so far have been striking, and I’m excited to team up with Erica to share this information with the industry’s top marketing professionals.”

Without having an historical basis of consumers’ online vehicle shopping behavior prior to purchase, marketers have based their online advertising strategies on traditional models. However, analysis of AutoTrader.com’s proprietary research has produced revolutionary insights that challenge many commonly held beliefs in the auto industry regarding retention and conquest advertising in the online space.

Wainschel will discuss these results and present an emerging model that replaces retention and conquest with reinforcement and redirection, and Bigley will continue the conversation by discussing the implications these insights have for OEMs.

“Transparency goes both ways in the automotive industry—consumers have access to more information than ever before; however, we from an industry standpoint also have access to a larger amount information about how those consumers are shopping. As OEM marketers, we can use these insights to extend our reach, improve how we market to consumers and ultimately, influence more shoppers online,” Bigley added.

The 2012 Automotive Marketing Roundtable will be held on October 23 – 25, 2012 at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev. Wainschel and Bigley’s session will take place on October 24, 2012 at 1:35 p.m.

About AutoTrader.com

Created in 1997, Atlanta-based AutoTrader.com is the Internet's ultimate automotive marketplace. As a leading resource for car shoppers and sellers, AutoTrader.com aggregates millions of new, used and certified pre-owned cars from thousands of dealers and private sellers and provides expert articles and reviews. AutoTrader.com, which also operates the AutoTraderClassics.com auto marketing brand, is wholly owned by AutoTrader Group. Additionally, AutoTrader Group owns Kelley Blue Book (KBB.com) as well as three other companies that provide a full suite of software tools that help dealers and manufacturers manage their inventory and advertising online: vAuto, HomeNet Automotive and VinSolutions.  AutoTrader Group is a majority-owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. Providence Equity Partners is a 25 percent owner of the company and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is also an investor. For more information, please visit www.autotrader.com.