Do Automakers Understand Digital Advertising, asks Kantar?

According to eMarketer quotAutomotive will continue to rank as the secondlargest industry segment in the US for digital ad spending after retail keeping it near the forefront of digital marketing for at least the next several yearsquot TV is still number oneamp8212it was 545 percent of spending in 2018amp8212but its dominance is declining with Zenith Media estimating that TV share will fall to 521 percent by the end of this year quotAutomotive brands are particularly dependent on television advertising and the ongoing declines in linear TV ratings have left them with higher prices and lower reachquot Zenith saidYes autos are a big part of the new digital advertising world and automakers are continuing their fast pivot from traditional TV and print But that doesn39t mean advertisers are striding forward with confidenceamp8212the transition has brought with it some confusion quotIt used to be easyquot says Chris Borchert SVP of strategy and innovation for Kantar39s media practice quotWhat were there five or six TV channelsquotI would submit that automakers are spending heavily in the digital space but despite a blizzard of data they39re still unsure of the impact particularly these days Blame it on COVID which has kept consumers out of showroomsamp8212some permanently a new generation of young car buyers whose needs are rather hard to understand and the gigantic amount of choice for the ad dollarLondonbased Kantar wants to help Here are the findings of its recent survey boiled down to its essence quotCompared to CPG automotive is more driven by exposure effectiveness than frequencyquot In other words in contrast to advertising for perishable consumer packaged goods car ads succeed more because of their creative appeal and placement than their constant repetition You can39t just throw money at the marketquotDoes it work or not workquot Borchert asks If it doesn39t catch the consumer immediately it39s white noise when it39s repeated quotThere are challenges to getting attention because of how car buyers are consuming media in a fragmented worldquot he said quotPlanning an effective campaign has to be followed by reaching the right audience while they39re in the purchase windowquotAnd boy is it hard to plan an effective campaign when the information about younger buyers is so conflicting Here39s one angle They hate cars don39t want to own them and love Uber and Lyft Here39s another They39re buying patterns actually make them look a lot like older generations Both have elements of truth and both need constant updating And COVID changes everything really putting a damper on the wedon39tneedacar scenario But the pattern of Americans getting their driver39s licenses later and later continuesSo much auto creative has been based basically on beer commercials Just show a group of happy young people riding in a car looking deliriously happy Find just the right piece of music and turn it up to 11 Don39t bother with details about the car It worked but it doesn39t anymore More recently the message has pivoted to showing the cars not the occupants on the open road celebrating the vehicle as sanctuary and escapeFor now that39s probably effective Automakers such as Lincoln were pivoting to that strategy even before COVID19 And Land Rover scored heavily with an quotAdventure is Callingquot message in its latest Discovery ad Spending 35 million the ad made number one on iSpottv with 325681472 impressions Here39s the spotThe Kantar survey shows that exposure effectiveness is heavily dependentamp821258 percentamp8212on the campaign and media factors Car factors price awareness car maturity are less than 21 percent So the message conveyed by the campaign really mattersI39ve been skeptical when web quotinfluencersquot most of them clueless about cars began showing up at auto events There39s a place for them within limits It can backfireamp8212Olivia Jade daughter of Lori Laughlin of college scandal fame had almost two million YouTube subscribers and Sephora and Amazon sponsorships but she became a giant anvil for the companies that drank her Kool AidAd folks might want to take a look back at the Chevrolet BestDayEver campaign from 2015 which focused on influencers and celebrities committing quotActs of Awesomenessquot during an eighthour live stream The hashtag drew in 15 billion social media impressions three million saw the YouTube livestream and threequarters of the engagement was with people under 35 Right now we could use a new message of altruism One caveat Celebrities are notoriously twofaced though and consumers very sensitive to being playedIt39s not just Olivia Jade many of today39s influencers have had short shelf lives If the halo is perceived to have slipped there will be instant backlash I remember one particularly effective post with photos of greenidentifying stars stepping out of giant gasguzzling SUVs Here39s a look at that Chevrolet campaign aboveFord39s current approach is to emphasize a quotcome togetherquot message for its quotBuilt for Americaquot cars and trucks The company employs more US hourly workers than any other automaker Not a bad idea but I don39t see that particular angle catching fire Only 25000 views for this onequotWe Are One Togetherquot is another Ford approach and it showcases people helping people I like it but can39t guarantee it will resonate in our shifting media landscape via digital channelsMy guess is that ad buyers are going to have to pay far more attention to social trends than they have in the past and be extra nimble and fastmoving in terms of where their ad dollars get spent The time when the money can be shoveled to three networks for commercials that play over and over is pastPhoto caption Ford is donating masks building ventilators and coordinating food deliveries Altruism is just one message companies are putting out now Ford photoClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Do Automakers Understand Digital Advertising, asks Kantar?

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Jim Motavalli

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