Timonium, MD-based Fox Chevrolet was able to sell 34 cars in a single day through a mobile marketing program meant to drive consumers into the auto dealer?s lot.

The campaign, which was powered by HipCricket, bought time on Hearst's Baltimore 98 Rock radio station. Fox Chevrolet ran 10- and 15-second promos encouraging people to text-in to enter to win the chance at a $98 car.

?While the so-called Cash for Clunkers program has helped bolster sales later in the summer, Fox Chevrolet decided not to wait for government assistance and instead turned to mobile marketing leader HipCricket and 98 Rock,? said Jeff Hasen, chief marketing officer of HipCricket, Kirkland, WA.

In total, nearly 500 listeners texted the keyword FOX to the station?s short code, with nearly 300 attending a special day-long event that resulted in the sale of 17 new cars and 17 used cars, in addition to the two $98 used cars that were awarded.

Traditionally, automobiles have been sold through mass media, a one-size-fits-all approach that includes major television and print buys.

That approach alone does not work anymore, Mr. Hasen said.

Fox Chevrolet needed to reach its customers on a one-to-one basis with truly relevant offers.

Unlike the mass media, mobile allows for enhanced measurability. The dealer measured the effectiveness of this campaign via sales and foot traffic.

?The goal, pardon the pun, was to drive consumers to the lot for test drives during the toughest economic times of our generation,? Mr. Hasen said. ?Rather than competing purely through price, Fox saw this as an opportunity to reach prospects on a highly-personal device, their mobile phone."

The $98 car deal wooed consumers to the lot.

Mobile helped the dealer to close the deal with 34 customers during an otherwise bleak summer for the auto industry.

Other car brands have relied on mobile to drive foot traffic to their dealerships.

In June, automaker Jaguar Cars Ltd. ran a multichannel marketing campaign to drive foot traffic to its dealerships and get consumers to opt-in to its SMS database.

Jaguar's strategy was to integrate mobile into other media channels by deploying short codes in several different media channels, including print, television and outdoor (see story).

?Mobile provides all the players throughout the mobile supply chain ? manufacturers and dealers alike ? with the chance to reach potential buyers with personalized, highly-relevant content about their offerings,? Mr. Hasen said.

 ?Customers who opt-in are customers who are looking to buy,? he said. ?You would be hard-pressed to find a campaign that performed as well during the recession.?