Huge promotion floats customers boats

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Huge promotion floats customers boats
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In December, more than 3,000 customers cruised to
Belize, Cozumel and Grand Cayman island aboard
the Navigator of the Seas.
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Billy Fuccillo doesn't do anything small,
including sales promotions. The owner of Fuccillo
Automotive Group has raised his own marketing bar
with a behemoth of a promotional event a free,
six-day cruise for every customer who buys or
leases a Kia from one of his Florida Kia stores
during an annual late-winter sales event. "It's a
tremendous customer-loyalty builder," says
Fuccillo, a former tight end at Syracuse
University who projects a larger-than-life
persona that dwarfs even his commanding
6-foot-4-inch, 270-pound presence. "Customers
come back every two or three years to buy a new
Kia because they want to go on the trip."
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To illustrate the effectiveness of the annual
Cruise with Huge promotion, Fuccillo recalls a
customer who came in last year to trade in a 2016
Optima with only 800 miles for a 2017 Optima. "He
told my used-car sales manager that he and his
wife had dinner with me on the cruise," he
told Automotive News. "He said they had such a
good time that they wanted to go on another
cruise and party with me again. Now that's not
the case for everyone who takes the cruise, but
it definitely keeps bringing back a lot of
customers. The whole boat The most recent
cruise was Fuccillo Automotive's sixth. In
December, some 3,200 customers boarded the
Navigator of the Seas for a trip to Belize,
Cozumel and Grand Cayman island. "We reserved the
whole boat," Fuccillo says.
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The price tag? A cool 1.5 million, says
Fuccillo, who's well known for his oft-heard (and
sometimes parodied) TV commercials in Florida
markets, featuring his trademark slogan, "It's
H-U-U-U-G-E-J-A!" Fuccillo Group owns 30
dealerships in upstate New York and Florida. The
New York stores sell Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram,
Ford, Chevrolet, Buick, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Kia,
Genesis, Subaru, Mazda, Lincoln, Volkswagen,
Nissan and Toyota brands. In Florida, the group
has two Nissan and three Kia dealerships, with a
fourth Kia dealership on the way. The Florida Kia
dealerships alone sold 13,413 new Kias and 3,234
used vehicles in 2017.
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Fuccillo is no stranger to over-the-top,
high-visibility promotions. In 1996, Robbie
Knievel the son of the late, world-famous
daredevil Evel Knievel jumped a motorcycle over
19 cars at a Fuccillo dealership in Adams, N.Y.,
northeast of Rochester. The nationally televised
promotion spurred the sale of more than 500 cars,
Fucccillo says.
"The whole ship gets transformed into our
exclusive boat. And when you check into your
room, you get a tote bag filled with Fuccillo
T-shirts, hats and other items. ... this is no
Mickey Mouse deal. Billy Fuccillo, Fuccillo
Automotive Group
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"I'm everywhere radio, direct mail, TV," he
says, noting that the Florida Kia dealerships
spend about 2.5 million a year on marketing.
"I'm really heavy on electronic advertising, as
in drive-you-nuts heavy. We're really in
customers' faces. Our advertising is not your
standard car advertising it's on edge. But
whether you like it or you don't like it, you're
always going to remember it." Fuccillo started
the Cruise with Huge promotion in 2012. The
cruises usually are held in early December. To
qualify, customers must purchase a car during the
annual sales event in January, February and
March, timed to coincide with the influx of
retirees who winter in southwestern Florida. The
promotion started out with small cruise ships and
gradually moved up to the giant Navigator of the
Seas, a Royal Caribbean International vessel
that's one of the largest cruise ships in the
world, capable of carrying 3,286 passengers.
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On board, first-timers who might expect what
Fuccillo calls a "dinky-donky boat" are in for a
surprise. "They don't always understand that this
is the real deal," he says. Along with providing
top-level entertainment, Fuccillo Kia branding is
in full force everywhere, from banners hung high
to lettering on the bottom of a pool. The
Fuccillo name is emblazoned on glassware, slot
machines and the felt coverings on the blackjack
tables. Transformed "The whole ship gets
transformed into our exclusive boat," he says.
"And when you check into your room, you get a
tote bag filled with Fuccillo T-shirts, hats
and other items. We don't fool around ... this is
no Mickey Mouse deal. Why is the promotion so
popular? For starters, Fuccillo points to
customer demographics. Southwestern Florida is
either a permanent or temporary home for a large
contingent of retirees who have the time to take
cruises.
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Then there's the sheer value of the trip.
"They're effectively getting a 4,000 value just
by purchasing a new vehicle," he says. Fuccillo
finds the cruises rewarding beyond increased car
sales. It dovetails with his belief that selling
cars must include a personal touch that extends
beyond websites and social media. "The Internet
is cold," he says. "It seems like it's nothing
more than a race to the bottom who has the
lowest price. I'm not sold on that kind of
marketing. "Nobody wants to talk to anyone
anymore," he continues. "But it's wonderful to
mingle with people who buy cars from you. You
can't have cocktails and dinner with customers on
the Internet. But you can do it on a cruise." In
Fuccillo's eyes, that's, well, huge. Reference
Link http//www.autonews.com/article/20180416/RET
AIL07/180419923/huge-promotion-floats-customers-bo
ats