TEMPE, Ariz. -

Now that DriveTime has its new top executive in place, the retailer that caters to buyers with damaged credit histories unveiled its news marketing initiative.

This week, DriveTime launched what the company called its “The Genius Way to Buy a Car” campaign.

The national spots showcase two fictional brainiacs, mathematician Gunter Zoolof and marine biologist Dakota Isaacs, who claim remarkable academic and scientific achievements, yet fail to be true geniuses because they didn’t bypass the notoriously unpleasant car buying process by using DriveTime. “The Genius Way to Buy a Car” began airing this week on national cable networks, including A&E, ESPN, History, Discovery and USA, among others, while also broadcasting in 68 local markets nationwide. 

DriveTime contends the “Genius Way to Buy a Car” challenges the used vehicle industry’s outdated advertising model that primarily focuses on unrealistic sales, limited discounts and loss leaders that benefit the dealership and not the consumer. 

“Consumers want a dealership experience, but they are demanding a fundamental change in the way the industry visualizes and delivers that experience,” the company said. “With the ‘The Genius Way to Buy a Car,’ DriveTime delivers that paradigm shift for consumers. This campaign’s imagination, creativity and humor highlights the enormous divide between the ‘industry way’ and the ‘Genius Way.’”

DriveTime’s “Genius Way” focuses on delighting customers and begins with listening to what they say they want and includes:

— National presence with 15,000 vehicles
— Second largest used vehicle retailer focused solely on used vehicles
— 145 dealerships in 27 states
— More than 1 million cars sold
— $2 billion every month in consumer requested credit
— Intelligent online tools
— Online financing including down payment and credit score
— Superior mobile customer experience
— Quality vehicles
— Five-day free return
— Free Autocheck available on every vehicle
— Dealership experience
— 90,000 five-star reviews
— Click and brick connected retail
— Proprietary point of sales systems allowing for speed of purchase
— Salaried sales advisors delivering an experience, not a sale
— Market based pricing
— No haggle pricing
— Live market based pricing

“Our strategic pivot is grounded in listening to what we know car buyers want — to make the car buying process easy by setting a transparent expectation about the price of car and down payment online, and then over-delivering on that promise at one of our 145 dealerships,” said Scott Worthington, vice president of retail and marketing at DriveTime.

Duncan Channon, DriveTime’s agency of record since 2012, created the spots with visual effects partner Freefolk and director Pelorian Brothers. 

“Why is it that we’ve all somehow agreed that buying a car will be a complete drag? No matter how much we demand smarter, more convenient ways of purchasing other items in our lives, we reluctantly go through the old-school drudgery at the dealership when it comes to one of the biggest purchases we make,” said Anne Elisco-Lemme, executive creative director at Duncan Channon.

“But the smart people at DriveTime have developed an incredible set of online tools that give their equally smart consumers everything they need to make an intelligent and pain-free purchase — lightning fast. It might not be Carmichael’s totient function conjecture, but it’s pretty genius,” Elisco-Lemme continued.

The spots can be viewed on DriveTime’s YouTube page or via the window at the top of this page.

For more information on DriveTime, visit drivetime.com.