Say what??? Well, it’s a long story for our original client. Back in 2001, we made our first presentation to Morris and Tommy Moore at Morris Moore Chevy in Silsbee, Texas. They hired us a few days later and DDM was off to the races. We revamped a dealership that had been through some tough times, and had developed a negative reputation.
We came up with a disarming campaign on Television that cast one of the sales managers as a harmless comedic fall guy. Basically, we made ‘Charlie’ a likeable lackey. We combined this with a campaign that gave customers a free seasonal gift with every vehicle purchase. From Schlitterbahn tickets, to deer feeders, to whatever, everyone got something extra when they bought from Morris Moore.
In 2 years we grew the store from 7% of GM market share to over 22%. Morris Moore turned their image around too, often being voted the market’s favorite auto dealer.
Moore Videos
A few years later, Morris Moore was bought out by a prominent local attorney. The dealership is quickly renamed and rebranded as Cowboy. We continued to work with them, and grow their brands, adding Cadillac, and the complete CDJR lineup to their lines.
Cowboy expanded and built new facilities and we were able to transfer the positive equity built at Morris Moore to the new Cowboy brand.
As a side note, the attorney who was the main partner HATED the commercials. In one meeting, he asked why we cast one of our staff as a ‘bumbling fool’. When we answered that studies showed customers would rather go to the dentist than car shop, he agreed hesitantly.
We then pointed out how much our growth was (up to 26% market share by then) and he said “I didn’t get to where I am by being dumb enough to change something that works.”
As the story continues, after several years, Morris and Tommy Moore buy the attorney out and open the Moore Auto Group. Again we rebrand, coming up with new logos, jingles and ad campaigns.
The dealership continues to grow but struggles in the digital realm and although remaining profitable, the dealership is not quite as strong as it once was. After Morris Moore passes in December of 2020, the family decides to sell the dealerships to a longtime friend in the automotive business, Alex Donalson.
Now the Donalson Auto Group rules in Southeast Texas. Another batch of rebranding with new logos and for the first time in 20 years, a completely different approach to our marketing. Gone are the silly skits, instead replacing our messaging with what makes the new dealerships different, thus the Donalson Difference is born.
With the new messaging comes a new approach to selling cars, volume over per copy gross. Alex’s mission is to help as many people get into a new vehicle as possible. Our media mix is now focused more on digital and social instead of the heavily traditional mix. And guess what, the Donalson Difference is real. Sales and every OEM score improved dramatically.
DDM has been the agency of record through 4 ownership changes (and no we aren’t related to anyone). We now represent the most respected, customer focused dealer groups around with 3 rooftops and 9 brands now all flying the Donalson banner.
From logos to jingles, and from newspaper and TV to streaming and social media, we create it all, and couldn’t be more excited about the future of this great client.
Services Delivered: Logos, jingle, media buying, TV production, radio, social media management, events, digital media. OTT.