Orlando-Based JKR Advertising & Marketing Shows Resilience, Surges Toward Pre-Pandemic Sales Records
The Floridant/10246929

ORLANDO, Fla. - Floridant -- JKR Advertising & Marketing, one of the country's leading automotive advertising agencies, has emerged from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic stronger than ever.

Prior to the pandemic, JKR was routinely setting monthly sales records, moving into a state-of-the-art facility and streamlining its business operations. But the sudden onset of COVID led to a significant slowdown, adversely affecting JKR and countless other companies.

Despite the challenging times, JKR has rebounded nicely; in fact, the agency is now poised to enjoy its best month in October since late 2019.

"Our numbers certainly suffered during the pandemic but we always told our clients if they continued advertising there were incredible deals available to them," said Jeff Johnson, Senior Partner and Co-Founder of JKR. "Media companies were lowering their prices and adding bonus weeks to sell all their available ad time. This allowed our clients to reduce their budgets and still send out a consistent message."

In addition to the pandemic, supply chain disruptions also added to the auto industry's woes during that time. "This made things even more difficult," Johnson recalled. "Here were all these people wanting to shop for cars but there was little inventory. Every dealer was selling all their cars but because many of our clients kept advertising, it helped them sell at a faster rate than their non-advertising counterparts. And that was often why our clients got more vehicles to sell at a time when inventory was at premium."

More on The Floridant

• Local Cremo Cigars Factory Boosts Tourism in Overtown
• Blueprint to Success: Creating a Unique and Effective Supplement Formula with Private Label Express
• CREFC Welcomes Commercial Real Estate Finance Industry to Annual Miami Conference on January 7-10, 2024
• Essential Speech and ABA Therapy to Expand Autism Services for a Growing Community
• Vero Beach Florida End Of Year Real EstateTrends

Now that most dealers' inventory stock is at least close to pre-pandemic levels, Johnson says his clients now clearly understand the value of JKR's advice. "We have most of our clients running full speed ahead again. What's been interesting to us is we have had more of our past clients reach out to us recently than I can ever remember. They now realize that, because they stopped advertising, they're currently at a disadvantage and they're ready to return to the aggressive advertising style they once enjoyed with us."

According to Johnson, the combined efforts of the agency's staff and the trust of its strategic partners has made the difference. "We couldn't have done as well as we did during COVID it not for the hard work, industry knowledge and adaptability of our team … and of course, our clients, who placed their confidence in us and stayed the course. We all navigated the pandemic together and today we're in great shape because we did."