Innovating with Mag-ma

This article originally appeared as part of “Local Leadership” 

Joe Machens Dealerships director of marketing Michele Cropp created mag·ma (McLarty Automotive Group Marketing Agency) in 2016. Machens already had in-house marketing services, but Cropp led the transformation to an in-house marketing agency, a group that would represent all of the McLarty dealerships’ needs, from media buying to production to coordination. Mag·ma offers marketing services, including in-house video, blogging, and more. They’ve doubled the marketing team to accommodate this switch in mentalities, and while Cropp says they are not yet large enough to accommodate all the McLarty dealerships, they do work with all the Machens dealerships in Columbia and Jefferson City. It’s not a new concept, but certainly a rare one, Cropp says, as many dealership groups aren’t large enough to warrant all-encompassing in-house marketing. But mag·ma has plenty of room to grow and this system is more efficient for everyone in a dealership group of their size.