An expansion of Cadillac’s digital showroom came at just the right time — weeks before the pandemic forced many dealerships to temporarily close their doors.

What started as a pilot of Cadillac Live became an effective tool for the brand and its dealers to continue showing customers vehicles remotely and offer personalized incentives throughout the pandemic.

At the end of 2019, Cadillac began a U.S. pilot of the virtual showroom, which operates out of Toronto with live product experts and had been successful in the Canadian market. The tool was designed to help Cadillac understand how customers want to shop, Melissa Grady, chief marketing officer, told Automotive News at the time.

After quick success with the platform, Cadillac began a national rollout four months earlier than planned, to coincide with the launch of the 2021 Escalade.

Since then, the tool has led to more than 3,000 leads and a conversion rate of more than 6 percent, said Marceline Perez, associate director of media and performance marketing at Cadillac.
Through Cadillac Live, shoppers are matched with a personal shopper and browse Cadillac’s lineup through an online video chat. For the most part, the tool — free for dealers — was intended to be used after hours when most dealerships are closed, though many dealers relied on it when they shut their doors to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Initially, there were about 20,000 visitors to Cadillac Live per month. That rose to 65,000 per month after the pandemic began, Perez said, and now hovers around 58,000 to 60,000.
“It has really brought consumers in that aren’t comfortable yet going into the dealership,” Perez said. “It’s really helping to drive traffic, generate interest and answer a lot of the customer questions that people are having during this time.”

Through the connection to the personal shoppers — dubbed Cadillac ambassadors by the brand — those online customers are still getting “that human interaction to talk one-to-one” that they once would have gotten by doing their browsing at stores, Perez said.

The platform was designed to be a one-on-one sales and product research tool, but over the past few months, Cadillac and participating dealerships have expanded their use of it.

At Vera Cadillac near Miami, sales associates embed prerecorded walk-arounds in their replies to email leads, said Richard Gonzalez, the store’s general manager.

Vera Cadillac and other dealerships also have used Cadillac Live to host private events.

“We have the ability to invite a group of people to a live presentation, do the presentation and at the end of that presentation, offer them a special incentive that nobody else gets,” Gonzalez said.

Cadillac also has used Cadillac Live for media events and for customers who have purchased a vehicle but want to learn about its features, Perez said.

“It’s really taken on a life of its own and [is] expanding just to provide more conveniences to our consumers,” she said. Even simple questions shoppers have can be easily addressed, Perez said, such as how a stroller would fit in the vehicle.

“The practical use of a vehicle, I think that’s sometimes hard to translate in specs and dimensions,” she said. “It’s really nice that they can demonstrate some of that for you, just to help you visualize a little better.”

In late 2020, the brand advertised Cadillac Live in a TV campaign with NBC. Comedian Fred Armisen stars as an agent in Cadillac’s “digital showroom,” touting the features of the 2021 Escalade. Segments appeared during “The Seth Meyers Show,” “Saturday Night Live” and other shows.

Chevrolet plans to launch Chevy My Way, a digital showroom similar to Cadillac Live, this month. Other GM brands also may implement their own version of Cadillac Live, Perez said, especially as auto shows and other events are put on hold or canceled during the pandemic.

“It’s a great tool to have in our toolbox,” Gonzalez said. “It has helped consumers … get further down the shopping funnel a lot easier.”