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Automotive

2024 Industry Outlook for Modern Automotive Marketers

At the tail end of 2023, economic trends such as rising wages and cooling inflation have brought an upward momentum to the automotive industry. Consumers are increasingly inclined towards entering the market for new and used vehicles as they adopt a more optimistic outlook on the future. At the same time, factors like higher interest rates are still leading many Americans to think twice about their purchasing plans.1

In September, Cox Automotive forecasted the sale of 15.4 million new cars with an additional 2.4 million leased in 2023 in the United States.2 And on a global scale, Reuters reports car sales are projected to hit 86.8 million units in 2023, an increase from the previous estimate of 86.4, driven by improvements in supply chains.3

Over the past year, the automotive industry has seen nearly a 20% increase in positive consumer sentiment.4 At the same time, however, brand loyalty is declining, and competition for in-market buyers is increasing as supply increases. All of this adds up to a unique opportunity for dealers and brands seeking to attract and convert new customers by beginning the process of building lifetime value.

Strategies for Auto Advertisers

Naturally, dealers and automotive marketers are eager to leverage these promising trends in order to achieve (and even surpass) their goals in 2024. With the right combination of multiscreen TV advertising, targeting, and creative messaging, they’ll be well positioned to reach potential buyers already in their backyards to help them understand the long-term value of doing business with their dealerships or brands.

If you’re an auto marketer or dealer planning your advertising investment for 2024, keep these strategies top of mind:

Invest in Multiscreen TV

Don’t limit your video advertising to just TV or OTT. Multiscreen TV advertising allows automotive advertisers to reach viewers continually through multiple screens with targeted messages, no matter where or when they watch. Data from Effectv shows that allocating 20–30% of your total video investment to streaming, with the rest focused on traditional TV, maximizes reach.5 Also, maintaining a steady cadence of multiscreen TV advertising creates opportunities for conversion at every phase of the sales funnel. The strategic combination of streaming and traditional TV allows advertisers to harness the power of premium video. Based on surveys conducted with various buyers, sellers, and viewers, Comcast Advertising defines premium video as “content delivered transparently, in a trusted brand-safe environment, seen by real people within a high-quality viewing experience.”6

Harness the Power of Sports

Make advertising during live sporting events a foundational part of your brand’s multiscreen TV campaign, especially games for home teams that will resonate with your geographic target audience. Focus on unique messages that differentiate your dealership or brand, such as family ownership or exceptional customer service, ideally with a local community angle.

Target Locally

As with any local institution, geography is a key part of driving long-term value. Auto marketers should look to reach consumers in close geographic proximity to incorporate the brand into the fabric of the community. Advertising where current and potential customers already live, work, and play keeps the brand top-of-mind and builds lifetime value, reminding consumers of everything the brand can offer, from sales to necessary vehicle services.

Drive Loyalty

Identify your dealership’s existing strengths when it comes to driving loyalty, and communicate them as a central part of your messaging. As you try to attract new customers, focusing on the benefits of your dealership will present the most authentic and compelling argument. From there, you can get creative with tactics for cultivating further loyalty like incentives or service perks.

Measure Outcomes

Without measurement, dealers and advertisers have no ability to understand what is and isn’t working within their campaigns. It’s important to ensure that advertising is working not only at the bottom of the funnel, but also in the middle. Effectv’s comprehensive reporting and measurement tools give advertisers insights into campaign performance and the business impact of ads.

Pushing the Pedal on Success in 2024

Combining multiple platforms and screens with localized appeals and a variety of messaging will be critical in 2024 for automotive brands and retailers seeking to create loyalty and woo customers away from the competition.

If you’re an automotive marketer looking to strengthen your advertising in 2024, let the story of Doral Automotive Group inspire you. Doral, which owns three prominent dealerships in South Florida, is one of many automotive brands that has leveraged the power of multiscreen TV advertising to build customer loyalty and increase sales. Doral’s strategy, developed in partnership with Effectv, focused on maintaining a strong brand presence month by month via a base campaign of consistent advertising across multiple networks and streaming platforms. This foundation was elevated with advertising during live sports events, especially Miami Heat games.

The sports-focused campaign extension, which included messaging focused on the brand’s commitment to family and community, yielded a 6% increase in incremental reach and a 41% boost in frequency compared to the base campaign.7 Doral also saw a notable correlation in the rise of website visits within 30 minutes of the TV ad and car purchases, demonstrating the effectiveness of integrating sports advertising’s broad reach with emotionally resonant messaging.

It’s not often that both economic and consumer trends align to create a window of potential like the one that the automotive industry currently has. Auto dealerships and brands should meet this moment by harnessing the power of multiscreen TV advertising to reach their audiences where they are and begin building the type of deep brand loyalty that will last a lifetime.

Explore more of Effectv’s automotive insights here.

Sources:
1. How Inflation and Higher Interest Rates Have Reshaped Car Buying for Many Americans, CNBC, 2023.
2. 2023 Cox Automotive Forecasts,Cox Automotive, 2023.
3. US Auto Sales to Rise in August on Increased Vehicle Supply, Strong Demand, Reuters, 2023.
4. Cox Automotive Auto Market Report: August 1st, Cox Automotive, 2023.
5. The TV Viewership Report 1H 2023, Effectv, 2023.
6. What is Premium Video? Redefining What it is to Be Premium in Advertising, Effectv, 2023.
7. From Slam Dunks to Sold Cars: Leveraging Live Sports to Reach the Right Car Buyers, Effectv, 2023.