Chief-marketing-officer leadership for dealerships and dealer groups — budget ownership, OEM compliance, vendor accountability, and an AI-forward stack — at a fraction of the cost of a full-time executive.
Most dealer groups are too big to run marketing by committee and too lean to justify a full-time chief marketing officer. The result: agencies grading their own homework, vendors stacking up, co-op dollars expiring, and no single owner of the number.
The Digerati Group's fractional CMO service puts a proven operator in the seat. Gray Scott ran marketing for Cardinale Automotive Group — 22 stores, $15M+ in annual ad budgets — and brings the operator-CMO lens to your P&L: budget discipline, OEM compliance, org design, and vendor accountability.
And because it is Digerati, the stack is AI-forward by default: modern attribution, GEO visibility, and AI-assisted workflows your competitors have not deployed yet.
A senior operator in the seat within weeks — for a season, a search, or the long haul.
One owner for the number. Allocation, pacing, and reporting the boardroom can actually read.
Team structure, hiring plans, and agency/vendor accountability designed around dealer outcomes.
Co-op capture, tier compliance, and regional rollouts across every major OEM program.
Budget ownership — allocation across rooftops, variable versus fixed ops strategy, and the Monday-morning test for every dollar: would you defend this spend to the dealer principal at the Saturday close?
OEM alignment — tier 2 and tier 3 funding, co-op capture, and compliance without letting the program run the strategy.
Vendor accountability — audits, RFPs, renewal negotiations, and consolidation. Typical audits surface 30 to 40 percent wasted spend.
Org design — what to insource versus outsource, who to hire next, and a marketing team structure that survives your growth.
A fractional CMO gives your dealership or group full chief-marketing-officer leadership — budget ownership, vendor management, OEM compliance, team development, and strategy — for a fraction of the cost of a full-time executive hire. You get the seniority without the seven-figure fully-loaded cost.
Common triggers: a marketing leader just left, spend is growing faster than results, a group acquisition needs marketing integration, OEM co-op dollars are being left on the table, or ownership suspects the agency and vendor stack is running the store instead of the other way around.
Gray Scott served as CMO of Cardinale Automotive Group — 22 stores — managing $15M+ in annual ad budgets. He has audited 40+ automotive marketing and AI vendors, led regional rollouts, and run OEM-compliant programs across every major brand tier. Automotive News 40 Under 40.
Fractional or interim CMO seat, marketing org design and rebuild, budget and P&L ownership, agency and vendor management, OEM-aligned execution, reporting the boardroom can read, and — because it is Digerati — an AI-forward stack that keeps you ahead of the market.
An agency executes channels; a fractional CMO owns outcomes. We sit on your side of the table — hiring, firing, and holding agencies and vendors accountable to dealer outcomes, not vendor metrics.