Automotive Industry Gets Drafted: Jumpstart Unveils Fantasy Showroom Game

From the Los Angeles Auto Show, Jumpstart Automotive Group has launched “Fantasy Showroom,” the world’s first automotive industry fantasy game. Jumpstart showcased the highly interactive game and invited automotive enthusiasts to put their opinions about the auto industry front and center, by creating their own fantasy showroom with the 2010 models they expect to succeed in today’s dynamic auto marketplace.

Inspired by popular online fantasy sports games, Fantasy Showroom was developed with the objective of bringing passionate automotive influencers together to both inspire conversations about the auto market, as well as to educate in-market auto shoppers on the latest trends and most desired models in the industry. By aggregating automotive industry data, the game will provide visitors with an interactive way to track industry trends and specific vehicle successes/accolades without having to visit numerous sites and sources.

Open to the pubic, the game allows registered players to create a showroom and choose one 2010 model year car from each of 10 categories: Sedan, Hybrid, Van, Truck, SUV, Luxury, Wagon, Sport, Convertible, Compact/Coupe. During the game, players are allowed to buy cars based on the vehicles MSRP, and sell them back based on the game’s calculated residual value of the model.

Each month, the cars will be scored based on real-world events including monthly unit sales, month over month sales increases, on-line shopping trends and interest, industry awards, fuel economy, and other factors. Each player will be ranked based on the number of points received by the cars they selected for their showroom. Along with competing against all participants, players will be able to test their industry knowledge against friends and peers by setting up, or joining groups within the Fantasy Showroom game. At the end of the game, which will run through August, the player with the most points will win bragging rights to claim they knew the automotive industry best. They will also get the chance to tout their knowledge by being a one-time guest editor for caranddriver.com, where they will be asked to report on their game strategy and overall experience.

“We created Fantasy Showroom for a simple reason: we want to better understand how people are engaging with cars,” explained Eve Maidenberg, VP of Marketing, Jumpstart Automotive Group. “More than ever, buyers are doing a majority of their car research online. By adding some fun to the process, we will connect auto influencers with the real world patterns of the auto industry, and allow both sides — brands and consumers — to gain a new perspective on the market.”

“This game is a great idea,” said Chad Smolinski, Vice President of U.S. News Autos. “After several months of doom and gloom for the auto industry, things are looking up. And we have some new cars to be truly excited about. But cars are bought by real people — not just industry pundits. I am willing to bet that consumers will be very good at picking winners.”

Fantasy Showroom is live today at: http://www.fantasyshowroom.com/ and enthusiasts can start playing at any time simply by registering, joining a group and beginning to choose the models they want for their showroom.

About Jumpstart Automotive Group

The Jumpstart Automotive Group brings together the most diverse audience of in-market automotive shoppers with the industry’s most influential auto enthusiast brands to dramatically improve the effectiveness and efficiency of automotive marketing across digital, print, and mobile platforms. Fueled by a passion for performance, the Jumpstart Automotive Group is committed to the development of quality content and services for consumers and to maximizing publisher revenue and advertiser results through innovative products and services. The portfolio of publishing partners include Vehix, Consumer Guide Automotive, JD Power Autos, Shopping.com Autos, Car and Driver, Road & Track, CarSoup.com, U.S.News.com, HybridCars, CarGurus, and TrueCar. Additionally, Jumpstart has been on the forefront of behavioral targeting and is now developing leading research and strategic insight products.