Wearing a Santa cap and warm smile, Mark Anderson arrives at a Clay City, IL home with a special delivery.
Anderson is there to surprise the couple with a minivan on Facebook Live. After knocking on the door, Anderson announces, “You were nominated for a minivan and you won.
“On behalf of Anderson and Sons we’re giving away two minivans this year. We had over 2,600 nominations, over 2,600 stories. We read all of them. There was a lot of tragedy, heartbreak, loss and sorrow, and a lot of victories, too…We thought your story was deserving.”
The new stunned car owner fights through the tears to thank Anderson before giving him and his wife, Sherry, a hug.
Soon after, Anderson arrives in Greenfield, Ill., to surprise the other winner at her work, with another minivan.
“Thank you so much. I can’t believe this. I’ve never won anything before in my life,” she said through tears of joy.
For the past several years, Anderson has played Santa Claus, delivering needed vehicles to deserving families in Illinois. The campaign has grown dramatically since developing the idea during a brainstorming session entering the holiday season.
“I don’t exactly know how it came about, but it became giving a vehicle away to a family that was in need,” Anderson explained to the crowd at the BHPH Dealer Forum. “Having people email us nominating somebody, a family who is in need and a little bit of a story. It just exploded.”
In the first year, the Andersons received 2,000 nominations and gave away a vehicle. The next year, they gave away two vehicles to represent their newly-opened second location.
“We’ve been doing that now for three to four years. This last year was our best success,” Anderson said. “My social marketing director came up with a form, where we could capture the email, a phone number, info, plus they can put in a short paragraph why a family would be in need.”
The Andersons read all the entries and do a countdown leading up to the announcement of the winner near Christmas. Anderson said they make some social media posts and boost them.
“We get so much traffic coming into our Facebook page,” Anderson said.
The vehicles are minivans bought at auction for around $5,000. Anderson reconditions the vehicle, takes care of the title and fills the vehicle with gas before showing up at the house or office to present it to the winner. Anderson shows up with a small crew, including Sherry.
“We go on Facebook Live and show up. It’s like Publisher’s Clearing House to a certain degree,” he said. “But it’s not millions of dollars, it’s a Town and Country. The raw emotion from these people. They have tears coming down. They’ve never won anything. They’re just crying and shaking. They just can’t believe all this.”
Anderson said they receive countless positive comments from the efforts.
“We’re trying to put a positive effect on our community,” Anderson said. “It just puts us in a better light with the community and with the customers.
“This Christmas giveaway really gets a lot of miles for the dollars we invest. We probably have a total of $15,000 in this campaign.”
One reward of the campaign is a lot of contacts to follow up with in the new year.
“We get those names in our database, and we try to market to those names in a way,” Anderson said. “We don’t want to come at them, but hey, if you know someone who might be interested in a vehicle, we’re here to help you. I think it really sets us up for the tax season.”
Anderson urges his fellow dealers to give it a try and is willing to help share his nomination form and feedback.
