- Dealer Marketing Magazine

Chicago — September 17, 2018 — Affinitiv announced today the strategic acquisition of Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises. Affinitiv, an industry-leading provider of customized, omni-channel owner retention programs and innovative service lane software solutions, will combine with Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises, experts in digital and new media (audio/video) marketing, to provide the automotive industry with comprehensive solutions for each stage of the customer life cycle.

“This is an exciting opportunity. We realized the value we could add to our clients after a successful joint project earlier this year. Given the increasing demand for digital marketing and new media creative solutions, it is no surprise they’ve grown significantly over the past few years. This acquisition truly makes us the marketing authority for all marketing spend within a dealership,” commented Affinitiv COO, Adam Meier.

Affinitiv offers automotive OEM, dealer groups and individual dealerships a complete view of customers: from market entry to point-of-sale, their first service appointment to major maintenance needs and beyond. Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises partner, Paul Caldwell stated, “I've always known that our company had the potential to lead the automotive marketing industry, and I could see we needed the right partner to get us there.

Affinitiv makes this a certainty with their breadth of client relationships and complementary solutions.” Ensuring a true end-to-end marketing option for dealerships nationwide, the combined company will pair consultative planning with its unique digital, data and omni-channel marketing capabilities. This data-driven and consultative approach ensure that the most effective, accurately targeted omni-channel strategies are implemented, with an acute focus on specific client objectives.

“Our new amplified capabilities will help our clients extend their digital reach, better connect with new and existing customers, plus enjoy stronger campaign results than ever before,”

said Scot Eisenfelder, CEO of Affinitiv.

“We’re thrilled to have yet another way to enhance our client’s marketing initiatives.” Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises is also pleased to provide its employees with more growth and development opportunities through Affinitiv. Tom Kerr, Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises partner commented, “Joining a service marketing powerhouse like Affinitiv will open many doors for our team members and we are excited to share these opportunities with our talented, dedicated, hard-working staff.”

About Affinitiv

Affinitiv is a leading marketing technology company serving automotive manufacturers (OEMs), dealership groups, and individual dealers. Affinitiv’s Connectiv1 Platform is designed to provide a 360° view of customer, vehicle, dealership and marketing campaign effectiveness all in one place. It makes it easy for auto dealerships to leverage data and target customers with the right message at the right time on the right communication channel. Affinitiv enables dealerships to produce, manage, measure and optimize omni-channel communications to drive brand loyalty and increase revenue. Affinitiv’s digital and analytic capabilities support a consistent customer experience through the entire ownership life cycle. Affinitiv was formed in 2016 and is headquartered in Chicago, IL.

About Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises, an Affinitiv Company

Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises is the automotive retail industry's leading provider of traditional and digital marketing. The company was launched in 2017 to unify the power and resources of CK Advertising, Ember Social and DyGen Digital. Today, Caldwell & Kerr Enterprises is one of the nation’s largest full-service automotive retail marketing companies. Current dealership clients represent the vast majority of vehicle manufacturers, including some of the largest publicly traded dealer groups and numerous Automotive News Top 125 Dealer Groups. In 2018, the agency formed a strategic partnership with Affinitiv to become the automotive industry’s one-stop-shop for comprehensive marketing throughout the customer life cycle.