CXAUTO2026:
we filled the room.
How AutoHubShow Media Group ran a 16-week, multi-channel campaign that sold out the 22nd annual Customer Experience Leadership Summit — and helped put the Automotive News Congress on a waiting list.
Final whistle: full house.
Campaign results, 10 June – 27 September 2026, from the CXAUTO2026 campaign performance report.
Fill a room of the people who run the industry.
Thought Leadership Summits asked AutoHubShow Media Group, as official media partner, to drive registrations for CXAUTO2026 — a one-day summit for retail, OEM, technology and CX leaders, held in Detroit the day the Automotive News Congress began.
The audience is busy dealer principals and executives who get pitched every day. So the plan was simple: lead with people and real ideas, not ticket offers.
The road to Detroit
Five channels, one destination.
Every email, post, QR code and video pointed to one place: the CXAUTO2026 event site, built to turn interest into registrations.
The event website
Speakers, agenda, sponsors, video and registration in one place, with a direct line to the Automotive News Congress. 82% of all page views went to the Executive Experience and Register pages.
The engine room: 27 sends to 9 segments — weekly Main List, a Sunday commentary series, and targeted dealer, vendor and NADA sends.
Tracked short links & QR
Branded cxauto.online links on every email, post and QR code, so every route to registration could be followed.
Social
135 LinkedIn and Facebook posts across 6 pages — speaker spotlights, CX commentary and reminders. Engagements up 427%.
Video
An 81-video library from the AutoHubShow studio — speaker interviews, sponsor conversations and a full preview show.
Three things we’d do again tomorrow.
Ask, don’t announce.
“What Will Your Dealership Do Differently in 2027?” drew the campaign’s biggest crowd: 13,105 unique opens. Questions about the reader’s own business beat event news.
Put a face on it.
Named-speaker emails averaged a 13.4% open rate in the final weeks, each one paired with matching LinkedIn creative and a video.
Warm lists run hot.
Smaller engaged and NADA-attendee segments opened at up to 59.9% — about three times the Main List average.
What a privilege and honor to present and participate in the CXAUTO2026 Summit! … It is ALWAYS about customers/guests (“people”) and putting their needs ahead of our own.
The industry is shifting
faster than you think.
Ian Nethercott and Peter “webdoc” Martin unpack what they heard on stage in Detroit.
Scenes from Hudson’s.
Speakers were the headline act.
Every speaker got their own spotlight — a LinkedIn card, a short video and an email — so each send had a person, not just a date.
Presented by Thought Leadership Summits. Partner event of the Automotive News Congress (host sponsor Hyundai).
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a waiting list?
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