Sonsio offers a comprehensive lineup of Vehicle Protection plans, industry-leading programs that cover Tire, Road Hazard Protection, Parts & Labor Warranties, Mechanical Advisory, Appearance, and other critical consumer services. These benefits provide vehicle owners with affordable coverages to keep their vehicles on the road safely, and also maximize the resale value by keeping the appearance of those vehicles like-new.
Sonsio’s unique selling proposition is simple. Not only do they work to provide their dealer partners with custom solutions designed to improve customer acquisition and increase profitability, they handle the management side of the claims process as well. Additionally, Sonsio has a unique ability to service what they sell, which differentiates them from the competition. With 28,000 Sonsio employees supporting the repair element of business, they’ve managed to offer something that no other competitor can.
In 2020, Sonsio was working to extend their reach as a leading provider of vehicle protection and warranty programs by merging with Evolution, Dent Wizard’s F&I vehicle protection division. The combined company needed to find a way to operate under one brand, which is where Encite came in.
Strategy
The first step in the development of the new brand architecture and strategy was to spend extra time upfront gathering additional, critical information prior to meeting with the Sonsio and Evolution teams. This extra time meant that we could ask more knowledgeable, penetrating questions that got to the heart of their beliefs and concerns when it came time for an enciteful™ planning session, a one-and-a-half day process in which we brought the Sonsio team together to cultivate strategic, meaningful ideas, from which the brand was enhanced. The session not only allowed us to immerse ourselves into both companies’ businesses, but also helped us to understand their overall business goals, key competitors, and their strategic platform for the future.
After our enciteful™ session, we identified that the main deliverable was brand architecture, and how we present the new merger of both companies. We discovered what kind of brand equity and awareness each business had and identified the direction in which to go. In addition, we performed market research within the target audience to confirm our strategic direction. The master brand, Sonsio, had the most equity and was the logical choice to go with. We folded the Evolution brand into the Sonsio family and began the work to develop architecture that was simple, memorable, and easy to evolve if the client were to expand their product/service offerings. The strategy was to use Monolithic Brand Architecture which emphasizes a single master brand that sits over the other brands within an organization. This is a particularly good option when the products are in the same category or offer a similar set of benefits, which was true in Sonsio’s case.
By the time we were finished, additional final deliverables included the Brand Vision, Messaging Toolbox, Customer Personas, SWOT Analysis, Industry Report and Experimental Mapping Document, along with other marketing material branded collateral designed to help increase revenue and facilitate the sales process.
Target Audience
For Sonsio, we had two target audiences- both the Finance & Insurance and the Tire & Wheel side of the automotive dealer business. In order to reach everyone, we segmented our messaging, developing both all-encompassing and specific written messages that would resonate with each facet of our target audience. For our T&W audience, we stressed that Sonsio’s methodology is what makes them stand out- how the service after the sale is their biggest differentiator. When it came to the F&I side, we made sure to play up ease of use, ease of selling, and profitability for dealers.
Results
After implementing the work that we developed, Sonsio enjoyed a revenue spike of 20%, as well as an increase in brand trust and recognition. These results were driven by the robust strategy-based work that Encite was able to produce.
Please note: In addition to graphic design, branding, and copywriting, our marketing agency in Denver, Colorado, Dublin, and New York City also offers: strategic planning, social media marketing and optimization, internet marketing services, public relations, media planning and buying, and event marketing.
