Several major auto brands are pulling up their socks to boost their marketing budgets next year to support several new model launches, a group of executives said at the Automotive News Marketing Seminar last Tuesday.
Audi (AUDVF, Financial), Chevrolet and Lincoln officials declared their intent to undertake large scale marketing plans for next year.
Audi’s 2015 marketing expenditure will grow by about 10% compared to 2014 levels, said Loren Angelo, director of marketing at Audi, U.S. Audi has geared up for high-profile TV events such as the Super Bowl and the Emmy Awards' major ad platforms, and also are incorporating new digital elements to extend the reach of its traditional campaigns. Angelo said, “Our focus is clear: We still stay true to the platforms that have been successful for us, but we’re putting more money with it.”
Vinay Shahani, vice president of marketing at Volkswagen (VLKAY, Financial) of America, also declared that the company’s spending budget for the next year will see a slight rise compared to this year. Tim Mahoney, Chevrolet’s (GM, Financial) chief marketing officer, said that team Chevy is busy in expanding its marketing perimeter to support five new vehicle launches in 2015.
Matt VanDyke, director of Global Lincoln, says Ford Motor Co.’s (F, Financial) luxury division will also increase its marketing expenditure for next year. “We’re building the brand, we’re growing the brand, we’ve got new products to launch," VanDyke said. “We’re a challenger. We have to be smarter and scrappier than the next guy.”
Inside the board rooms
Even though the Lincoln brand from Ford Motors brand wagon was always found on the VIP seats of the high-profile Super Bowl campaigns in recent years, news from their boardroom suggest that they will give a miss to this year’s Super Bowl mega event.
Executive room news from Volkswagen, Audi and Chevrolet, whose big ticket ads have adorned the telecast of the 2014 Super Bowl, said they were still considering whether to advertise in the big game.
According to VanDyke, although the huge audience at the mega event is lucrative, they do not intend to cough up million-dollar ads at the event next year. So they are looking to divert that fund to some new marketing strategy that is yet to be disclosed.
VanDyke said the focus in 2015 would revolve around the launch activities of the new models coming out of the Lincoln shop floor.
Sending the same message through all advertising routes
With the advent of technology and increase of multiple routes to reach out to customers, the major challenge being faced by the ad world is incorporating the ever-changing array of digital mediums in marketing plans and conveying the message that’s consistent across all the mediums.
A tool from Google that blocks online ads has been downloaded more than 200 million times, which suggests that consumers are now becoming more conscious towards messages being conveyed to them from the advertisers. They no longer want to hear what advertisers want to announce, but they want to get the content the way they want it. Hence, advertisements have to be engineered in such a way that the message reaches the customers in a precise and consistent manner irrespective of the medium the consumer chooses.
Cars and sporting mega events
The commercial break space of any and every mega sports event has been the sweet spot for automobile advertisers. This space has been the major stage for the auto advertisers to reach out to a large audience due to their huge viewership across the world. Automakers are mainstay advertisers during NFL and college football broadcasts, and Mahoney is banking on the other football events to boost global awareness for Chevrolet.
Chevrolet’s jersey sponsorship with English soccer club Manchester United, a deal that was originally struck by former GM marketing boss Joel Ewanick, has put Chevrolet’s bowtie logo in front of the club’s worldwide fan base of some 700 million people, Mahoney said.
Some 50 million to 60 million worldwide viewers tune in every time Manchester United takes the pitch. This giant TRP of these mega events allows the automobile players to reach out to huge range of target customers across the world from a single platform.
Using ‘recall’ news its own way
According to auto experts the recall news does not really create a dent in the customer’s footfall for the cars, rather it takes the car maker into limelight and adds to the benefit of it being discussed by many – further adding to its endeavor to reach out to consumers.
According to Mahoney of Chevrolet, GM’s recall crisis has had a marginal impact on consumers considering GM vehicles. Though recalls might impact the revenue and earnings numbers, smart advertisers use it their way. For example, the very public nature of the recalls, including the 2.6 million small cars recalled for defective ignition switches that are now linked to at least 21 deaths, and widespread coverage of the company’s handling of the crisis, has meant Chevrolet has not had to devote significant resources to countering the publicity but rather could use it to build a marketing strategy around it, a very positive way of thinking indeed.
Tech talks
With the customer mix getting younger in age and tech savvy in nature, the advertisements have to focus their message around the technical benefits that the car comes with and create a portrayal of the advanced features making them the USP of the car.
Audi is already going all out to market its advanced powertrain offerings, including campaigns for diesel powertrains.
With self-driving cars catching up fast with the car crowd Shahani of Volkswagen feels that self-driving cars will be in the market before even we get to know its entire features. Coming from the horse’s mouth is this an insight of what’s cooking in the Volkswagen kitchen is still for us to imagine.
Another ground-breaking feature that is about to hit the car market is the vehicle connectivity feature being spearheaded by Chevy. Chevrolet is about to launch 4G LTE connectivity in some 30 models, and is creating a lot of hype around it as they feel that advertising such an innovation holds more priority than the launch of the Colorado midsize pickup truck in the recent future.
Advertising ruling the roost
Whatever might be the strategy of the automakers, one thing is clear –Â the entire auto fraternity is currently busy strengthening its marketing arsenal for 2015. Hence, it is clear that come 2015 we will get to see a lot of activity in the global auto sector. For now, let us keep our eyes trained on 2015 to see the mega events in the automobile space.
