Screening Customers

In the showroom, a 100-in. plasma screen portrays happy drivers cruising through beautiful forests, safely navigating slick roads and putting an SUV through its paces.

In the café as customers consider their purchase or wait for servicing, they can have a snack as two 42-in. plasma screens keep their attention. And if a restroom stop is in order … well the video screens are smaller there.

Rockland Toyota owner Neil Kupperman says that a goal in building his new 44,000-sq.-ft. facility in Nyack, NY, was to make it visually different from the competition.

“I wanted to create a bigger than life feeling so people would remember us,” he says.

If the monitors in the restroom stalls give them something to talk about, “all the better.”

The idea is the brainchild of Kupperrman's son, Evan, who first came across the multi-screen concept at ESPN Zone in New York City. He became convinced of its usefulness as an in-house dealership marketing tool when he later saw a product demonstration on a 42” screen in the local Home Depot Expo.

Kupperman says the strategically placed TV monitors reinforce the Rockland Toyota brand and, in a subtle way, sell services. One phone call allows him to change messages to, say, a promotion on a new loan rate or a deal on a new vehicle.

The screens can be split into eight different sections for as many messages. Along the bottom is another customer service: a scroll tells service customers how much longer it will be before their car is ready.

The content, created by Captive Audience with footage from Toyota, intersperses shots of fun and exciting driving with news and information from the dealership.

There are reminders about service and pitches for the Toyota branded products which are sold in the on-site boutique.

Kupperman specifically added a café to keep customers around.

“Our old showroom wasn't really conducive to having customers wait, so we always offered to give them a lift home,” he says. “But the biggest request we had was to take them someplace to eat. So, we installed a café.”

Although the showroom has only just opened, Kupperman says the response has been enthusiastic in the weeks since the lights — and TV screens — were flicked on.

When the showroom is closed at night, the 100-in. plasma can be seen from outside the building selling Toyotas and Rockland Toyota as the sales force sleeps.