Our Story
About Us
Learn more about our journey, mission and values.
Our Story
Since 2012, automotiveMastermind has redefined the data mining sector, going beyond lead generation and leveraging machine learning to help dealers predict who's about to be in market, why they are about to be in-market and what are they likely in market for.
We’ve continued evolving, listening to the needs of dealers and OEMs to ensure we’re solving their challenges and delivering what they need to be successful.
Today, as the automotive industry’s trusted data and technology provider, we’re continuing to enhance our core Mastermind product features, expanding our integrations strategy to integrate with the major DMS, CRM, digital retailing and CDP platforms in the industry and growing our data as a service (DaaS) offerings.
Our company has evolved and our offerings have expanded, but our mission has remained the same: Helping our dealer partners predict and engage every car buyer.
automotiveMastermind at Glance
445+
Masterminds located across the United States, Poland and India
3,300+
dealer partners across the United States
30
brand partners
Our History
How we’ve evolved alongside the automotive industry
automotiveMastermind Founded by Two Top Dealers
After more than a decade as top performing dealership salesmen, Marco Schnabl and
Johannes Gnauck recognized the need for more sophisticated technology that leveraged
data to improve the automotive retail experience for both buyers and sellers. Their
combined expertise is the reason automotiveMastermind was born.
Introduced our Loyalty offering, with Six Dealer Partners Under One Brand
After launching with six dealer partners in 2013, automotiveMastermind quickly grew to
serve more than 800 dealers nationwide by 2016.
Mass Market Entry and Acquisition by IHS Markit
Our early, impressive results caught the attention of IHS Markit (now S&P Global), a
world leader in information, analytics and solutions. Our acquisition by IHS Markit and
further integrations with Polk Automotive Solutions empowered us to partner for the first
time with mass market brands.
Conquest Launches, Giving Dealers Access to New Customers Outside Their
Database
After 6 years of focus on loyalty, automotiveMastermind debuted its second product
offering, Conquest Solutions. The introduction of Conquest also signaled our evolution
beyond 1st party data to incorporate sophisticated, high quality 3rd party data. Conquest
enables dealerships to find new customers in their area in the market for a new vehicle.
Service-to-Sales Activator Launches As Our Data Integrations Grow More
Powerful
Our Loyalty platform grew in 2019, as we introduced the new Service-to-Sales Activator,
helping dealers to seamlessly convert service visits into vehicle sales.
automotiveMastermind Leans On Its Never a Vendor, Always a Partner Approach
in the Wake of Unprecedented Circumstances
2020 was an unprecedented year in many ways, and at automotiveMastermind this was
no exception. In response to dealerships’ need for greater virtual support, we launched
Mastermind Academy and virtual BDC support. We built out the infrastructure needed to
tackle the pre-owned market. But we prided ourselves most on being a true partner to
our customers when they needed it most.
EEQ Enhances the OEM Experience with Optimized Private Offers
2021 saw the roll-out of EEQ, or Enterprise Eye Q, a data-driven campaign planning
platform that enables OEMs to create targeted private incentive campaigns – driving
traffic across their dealer networks.
Expanding our Data Capabilities with S&P Global Mobility
In 2022, S&P Global and IHS Markit completed their historic merger. Our new data
capabilities greatly accelerated our innovation strategy.
Winning with Data and Winning with Engagement
With S&P Global Mobility’s acquisition of Market Scan and a host of new integrations,
automotiveMastermind became positioned to offer a host of new innovations – from
greater social enhancements and Digital Audiences to Recall Connect and Lease
Buyout. We focused on creating new enhancements to meet the market’s increasing
needs.
Today: Bringing Joy to Every Automotive Purpose
In 2024 we made the commitment to become the automotive industry’s trusted data and
technology provider. With a bevy of new integrations and the introduction of tools like
Turn, Showroom, EV Behavior Driver, and Service Portfolio, we are continuously
growing Mastermind’s capabilities. As we look to the future, we are dedicated to helping
dealers do what they do best: sell cars.
Awards & Accolades
