Find peace of mind - not piece of scrap

20/05/10

Motors.co.uk unveils new website, backed by major advertising campaign

Leading used car business motors.co.uk, has announced ambitious plans to become the Number 1 choice for consumers looking to buy used cars with the launch of a revolutionary new website, advertising campaign and senior sales appointment.

Motors.co.uk launched in 2007 and has quickly grown to become the UK’s second most visited used car website behind Auto Trader with a 21.4 per cent market share*. Since its launch, the brand has signed major partnerships to supply used cars for The Daily Mail online, parkers.co.uk and The Independent amongst others.
To achieve further growth, the business has launched a major new national advertising campaign spanning print, broadcast, online and event activity. Featuring words of wisdom from new brand icon - the Motor Sensei, the campaign is timed to coincide with the launch of the new motors.co.uk website.
Developed by the creators of the Compare the Meerkat adverts, VCCP, the Motor Sensei will feature across the new brand creative and will provide buyers with a trusted source of guidance and advice to help them find their next car.

The Motor Sensei will provide words of motoring wisdom for car buyers and will emphasise the values of trust, authority and experience. As part of the campaign, a new motors.co.uk logo will also be introduced to run across print and online advertising.

Featuring the strap line ‘find peace of mind, not piece of scrap’; the campaign will promote the website’s free history check service, as well as the site’s independent consumer advice and guidance.
In conjunction with the new campaign, the brand has launched a revolutionary new website which is the result of intensive customer focused research and will include a number of new and unique features to improve usability and customer experience.

Garry Hobson, CEO of motors.co.uk said:

“The website will be simpler and quicker, featuring unique FAST technology that will greatly increase the power and speed of the motors.co.uk car search engine. The overall design will also be refreshed in keeping with the new branding and users will have improved access to the site’s extensive range of impartial buying advice and over 280 car reviews.”

He also commented: “For the first time, users will be able to search by price bracket and select and compare multiple makes and models at once, providing buyers with greater choice and dealers with greater visibility for their stock.”

As part of the launch, motors.co.uk has also strengthened its sales drive with the appointment of Ian Webber as Sales Director who has joined from Yahoo! where he was Automotive Category Director for Yahoo! UK and Europe.

Ian joins the business after 5 years at Yahoo! where he was responsible for automotive growth and innovation across search, display and mobile.

Commenting on his appointment, Ian said: “It is a very exciting time to be joining motors.co.uk as the business cements its position as the leading challenger brand to Auto Trader with the introduction of the new website and creative campaign.

“I am confident that by offering our customers an unrivalled level of service and by investing in the new sales and marketing campaign, we will greatly increase quality traffic and exposure for stock listed on the site. The far-reaching improvements to the website coupled with the hard-hitting advertising campaign will enable the business to realise its ambitious growth strategy to become the number one site for car dealers and manufacturers.”

The company’s rapid growth follows a number of strategic alliances in the past year between motors.co.uk and regional media groups Iliffe Media, Berkshire Media Group, Baylis Media and Midland News Association. As part of the deal, the groups now feature motors.co.uk’s used car search on their local websites and in the motoring supplements of their print titles.
As a result of the past year’s growth, motors.co.uk is now featured in 184 local newspapers and more than 180 websites across the UK, which equates to almost one-fifth of local media newspaper coverage.
Ends
For more information please contact Simon Baylis or Louise Vaughan at Acceleris Marketing Communications on 0845 4567 251 or email simonb@acceleris-mc.com / louisev@acceleris-mc.com

Notes to Editors

-*ComScore Monthly Reach of UK Online Used Car Searchers Sept 08 – Sept 09.
About motors.co.uk

Motors.co.uk is part of Associated Northcliffe Digital (AND), the digital consumer division of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc, whose portfolio includes Jobsite.co.uk, FindaProperty.com, Primelocation.com and motors.co.uk. Visit http://www.motors.co.uk/ for more information.