Modern Automotive Group
Family-Owned Since 1933 • 16 Dealerships • Apr-Oct 2025 (~7 months)
Founded in 1933 as a single Chevrolet store in Winston-Salem, Modern Automotive has grown into a 17-dealership, 1,100-employee operation spanning Nissan, Toyota, Chevrolet, Hyundai, and more across North Carolina. When their Director of Marketing sought a force multiplier to bring content strategy fully in-house, Hrizn became the engine behind 600+ pieces of content and portfolio-wide organic acceleration.
0
ASC Events
Across 16 Dealerships
Control, Not Rescue
After 90+ years of growth, Modern Automotive was not struggling online - their previous vendor delivered acceptable organic results. But acceptable was not the standard. Gary LaDue, their Director of Marketing, saw a structural gap: every time a vendor changed, institutional knowledge walked out the door. One person could not publish enough content to cover 16 markets. And outsourced teams never truly understood the difference between a Nissan shopper in Hickory and a Hyundai buyer in Concord. Modern needed ownership, not another agency retainer.
“Modern Automotive did not need a rescue. They needed acceleration. Hrizn delivered a force multiplier that made in-house SEO viable at scale.”
Three Immediate Opportunities
Modern did not need another vendor. They needed infrastructure - a platform that could publish consistent, data-driven content across 16 markets without adding headcount or sacrificing quality.
“Hrizn did not replace a failing vendor. It accelerated a strong internal plan and delivered a capability that even a seasoned SEO professional could not replicate alone.”
Portfolio-Level Outcomes
April - October 2025: Standardized conversion activity and direct shopper engagement across 16 dealerships. These are verified metrics - not projections.
Store-Level Data Tells the Story
Modern deployed Hrizn across five rooftops in April 2025 and the remaining eleven in May. Within months, the platform had published 600+ pieces of content - articles, model research pages, vehicle comparisons, and service guides - each grounded in real search demand data from IdeaCloud. What followed was not isolated improvement at a few stores, but coordinated step-function change across the entire 16-dealership portfolio.
Store Performance: Organic Growth vs ASC Events (%)
Search Position Improvements
In search, lower position numbers mean higher visibility. Every dealership moved from pages 3-4 to page 1 - where 90%+ of all clicks happen.
“When Hrizn is deployed at scale and used consistently, the likelihood of material organic improvement increases, and the ceiling of impact rises decisively.”
600+ Pieces. 16 Markets. Zero Extra Headcount.
99% of post-search engagement happens outside paid clicks. Hrizn gave Modern the infrastructure to compete for this organic attention - publishing informational articles, model research, vehicle comparisons, and local content at a pace no single person or agency could match.
0
Organic & Other
of post-search engagement
Material deviation from typical organic performance patterns
Individual dealership breakdowns showing organic growth, ASC event improvements, and content output across the portfolio.
ASC Events: YoY Performance Across 16 Dealerships
Increased ASC Events YoY
88%
(15 of 16)Grew ASC Events by ≈50% YoY
42%
(7 of 16)More than Doubled ASC Events
30%
(5 of 16)Modern Automotive won by deploying infrastructure at scale.
From the executive leadership at Hrizn:
“Working with Gary and the Modern Automotive team showed us exactly what Hrizn was built for. When you give a sophisticated operator the infrastructure to publish at scale - across 16 markets, dozens of brands, and hundreds of local search terms - the results are not incremental. They are step-function. What Gary's team accomplished in seven months is the clearest proof yet that helpful content infrastructure is the competitive moat in automotive retail.”
16 dealerships. 7 months. 600+ pieces of content. 88% of stores grew ASC Events year over year. See how IdeaCloud powers research, how Brand Voice maintains governance at scale, and what this looks like for dealer groups and dealer principals.
