Next Day Traffic

The biggest sporting event in the world?

How about the biggest commercial-watching event of the year, that we know is true and how the list of advertisers has changed, especially when you look at this year’s big players at a clip of $3M per 30 seconds:  Lexus is in for first time ever, Hyundai will run 5 ads, Kia is in along with Audi, Toyota, VW, several GM ads and Chrysler – remember Eminem ad from last year, it was a game-changer?  Early reviews of some automotive ads say they are way out there – can’t wait to see.

KBB Sets Expectations for Top Auto Commercials of Super Bowl XLVI

By Auto Remarketing Staff

Created 01/31/2012 – 16:17

January 31, 2012 | IRVINE, Calif.   By Auto Remarketing Staff

The editors at Kelley Blue Book didn’t offer any predictions on whether they think it will be the New York Giants or the New England Patriots lifting the Lombardi Trophy after Super Bowl XLVI this weekend.

However, the firm did predict which automakers will likely be celebrating come Sunday night.

KBB is forecasting that the two models likely to see the strongest traffic uptick on the company’s website are the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic and the 2012 Honda CR-V.

More specifically, Kbb.com traffic share for the Sonic is expected to climb almost 250 percent on game day, officials said. They attribute this to the fact that the model is relatively new, so receiving national exposure like a Super Bowl ad is prone to push interest in the vehicle. Moreover, demand is currently strong for subcompact sedans due to their fuel economy and affordability.

Meanwhile, CR-V won’t see the same kind of uptick on Super Sunday, but is likely to benefit further down the road. KBB predicts consumer research in the CR-V will hit a “higher plateau” and continue at that level for quite some time.

Week-over-week, KBB believes traffic for the CR-V will jump 100 percent on Super Bowl Sunday.

“The images of the new CR-V have been available for several months, but this affordable model, currently available for purchase, has been high in demand even before the redesign,” said Arthur Henry, manager of market intelligence for Kbb.com.

“The national exposure will only further interest in the model, as advertisements that resonate most with consumers are those that are model specific,” he added.

Interestingly enough, this year’s game will be shown on the Web, and this could prove beneficial to automakers.

Analysts said the game being on the Web makes it “even easier for consumers to research the advertised models and brands.

“Manufacturers that advertise during the online stream have the opportunity to garner a tremendous amount of Internet traffic, especially if the ad unit allows consumers to click through to the automaker’s site,” they explained .

Sharing some more advertising trends, KBB noted that in the last two Super Bowls, each of the advertisements that focused specifically on the model led to “immediate” traffic hikes for the respective vehicles.

Conversely, the brand-focused spots “hardly moved the needle for online research,” KBB noted.

During 2011, the Chrysler 200 was the top traffic gainer during the Super Bowl, as its traffic share climbed 1,013 percent. The Hyundai Elantra gained the most ground over the long term, improving its rank on the list of most-researched cars from No. 37 to No. 7.

“In addition to being model-focused, commercials with pop culture references tend to outperform other campaigns,” said Henry. “Last year, Volkswagen saw a lot of success with its Star Wars ad, and Chrysler also benefited from their ‘Imported from Detroit’ commercial starring Detroit-native Eminem.”

Other factors seen as influential are games or call-to-actions to go online as well as ad frequency.

KBB has found that model availability, model age and consumer demand factors are the three factors most likely to drive new-vehicle research during the Super Bowl.

As for model age, if the vehicle has been out a while, consumer awareness of the car is already higher, so there is less of a likelihood research will be strong. In other words, consumers won’t necessarily feel the need to look up a car they already know a lot about.

Officials also pointed out that non-luxury sedan and SUVs tend to do better than other segments for generating consumer interest, commanding 75 percent of Kbb.com traffic.

full story here

The fact that this is an election year and it having the ability to mess up the media cost in some markets is just about the last thing on the minds of most Toyota and Honda dealers I talk to.  The Toyota guys just keep saying as long as we don’t have a recall or a tsunami, we can handle anything.  The Honda guys seem to mirror the sentiment as their inventory was hit harder by the tsunami and still really aren’t back to great levels across the board on core products.

The race is on because I just saw where Toyota Motor sales announced they expect a, this is down 4% from where Honda announced they would be earlier in the month at 23%.

I guess it is time to say start your engines.  This is going to be a fun one to watch in 2012.

I am sure when Shania Twain recorded the song with the verse “dance with the one who brought you” she wasn’t thinking about the automotive industry.  But in looking at the success our dealers had last year by mining their own customer base, the words of the song are gospel.

Two things stood out:  1. Existing customers stand as your best predisposed prospects, and the most affordable to reach;  2. If you do not already have a system to data track any customer who visits your dealership, start today.

The avenues of access for added sales and service revenue are endless – from a regular newsletter taking them inside the dealership to an e-blast inviting them to a preferred customer’s event only.  Dance with the ones who got you where you are, because If you don’t there’s always someone looking for a new partner.