Turns out, the online used-car market will have an even larger presence during the Super Bowl than it did a year ago.
Carvana announced Wednesday it make its Super Bowl advertising debut on Feb. 13 with a 30-second spot featuring “an endearing ‘oversharer’” who talks about her experience buying from the online retailer with everyone — be they her child, neighbor, people in the elevator, grocery store clerk, art class or dentist.
“Our customer is at the center of everything we do and ‘Your next customer may be your mom’ is a value that’s central to our DNA, so much so that it inspired our Super Bowl national advertising debut to show our commitment to ensuring our customers have a positive Carvana car shopping, buying or selling experience,” Carvana co-founder and chief brand officer Ryan Keeton said in a news release.
“Our in-house team had a lot of fun developing this new campaign to be light-hearted and relatable so people understand how, at Carvana, We’ll Drive You Happy,” Keeton said.
And while the Kansas City Chiefs won’t be returning to the Super Bowl this year, Carvana rival Vroom will be.
In its upcoming return spot, Vroom will turn its attention to the consumer experience of selling used cars, this time poking fun at peer-to-peer sites.
Through a Broadway-themed spot titled “Flake the Musical,” the company will share how “selling your vehicle can now be just as easy with Vroom as buying one,” it said in a news release.
The 30-second spot, which will air during the fourth quarter of the game, is designed to show the “rollercoaster of emotions” involved in selling a vehicle on a peer-to-peer site, specifically when the would-be buyer backs out of the deal.
Vroom made its Super Bowl advertising debut in February 2021, airing a 30-second spot titled “Dealership Pain” that cartoonishly lampooned the traditional car-buying experience.
Dealer reviews potentially could go one step further in helping stores maintain their reputations via a new tool from Widewail.
On Monday, the customer review and reputation management solution introduced a new offering targeted to automotive dealers called Invite Video.
Widewail explained Invite Video can empower dealer managers and staff by capturing customer video testimonials and leveraging social media sharing to shape the message about their dealerships.
“Research shows more than 90 percent of customers look up reviews before visiting an automotive dealership,” Widewail chief executive officer Matt Murray said in a news release. “In today’s competitive market with inventory and staff shortages coupled with surging vehicle prices, customers are looking to their peers to confirm if they can trust a dealer.
“With fake profiles and reviews fueling distrust amongst consumers, video reviews are the single best solution for an automotive dealer to gain trust in this competitive market,” Murray continued.
Widewail highlighted that its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) marketing platform cab proactively pursue customer feedback, distribute positive reviews on appropriate forums like Google and Facebook and shape a broader message around a company through the words of its customers.
Directly integrated into point-of-sale systems, Widewail’s solution also automatically can pull customer data and generate mobile-friendly review requests to drive review engagement with customers.
“What makes this trust marketing solution stand out even more is that it doesn’t require the dealer to lift a finger. Dealers can automate the solution to secure reviews and distribute accordingly without having to think about yet another item on their already growing checklist,” Murray said.
To learn more about Invite Video and Widewail’s other marketing solutions, visit www.widewail.com.
In 2020, the Kansas City Chiefs took on the upstart and defense-minded San Francisco 49ers in the first Super Bowl appearance for their star quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
In their return trip to the Big Game last year, the Chiefs faced an opponent of a wholly different sort: Tom Brady and the veteran-laden Tampa Bay Buccaneers, brimming with offensive firepower.
The team at Vroom may be able to relate to such divergent tasks.
In the online used-car retailer’s first trip to the Super Bowl (advertising, that is), the company took on car dealers, suggesting that Vroom can offer a better used-car buying experience for consumers.
In its upcoming return spot next month, Vroom will turn its attention to the consumer experience of selling used cars, this time poking fun at peer-to-peer sites.
Through a Broadway-themed spot titled “Flake the Musical,” the company will share how “selling your vehicle can now be just as easy with Vroom as buying one,” it said in a news release.
The 30-second spot, which will air during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13, is designed to show the “rollercoaster of emotions” involved in selling a vehicle on a peer-to-peer site, specifically when the would-be buyer backs out of the deal.
“Now is a terrific time to sell a vehicle with used-car pricing at all-time highs. However, the process can be overwhelming and unnecessarily complicated,” Vroom chief marketing officer Peter Scherr said in a news release.
“At Vroom, we make selling your car as easy as possible. Being a part of the Super Bowl allows us to invite tens of millions of consumers to visit Vroom.com and get an instant price on their car,” he said. “When someone is ready to sell, we pick up the car and the consumer gets paid … all from home. No more meeting strangers, endless negotiating, or being flaked on. What could be better?”
Appropriately enough, the spot that will air during the Super Bowl — which is being held in the Los Angeles area — was choreographed by Mandy Moore, who was the choreographer for “La La Land,” a musical-themed movie that prominently featured the City of Angels.
Your store inventory could look more appealing to potential buyers who are shopping online via an expanded strategic partnership Sincro and SpinCar.
The automotive digital marketing firm and provider of digital automotive engagement software announced this week that their enhanced alliance is geared to brings automated 360-degree walkarounds to more than 3,000 U.S. auto dealers.
Through a direct integration between SpinCar’s SpinBuilder CV platform and Sincro’s website platform, the firms said static vehicle images will be automatically converted into interactive vehicle walkarounds for all eligible dealers.
SpinCar and Sincro said virtual 360-degree walkarounds can increase trust and transparency by empowering shoppers to explore every aspect of a vehicle directly from their laptop, tablet or mobile device.
The firms explained the virtual 360-degree tours can enable vehicle shoppers to rotate, pan, or zoom in on every detail of a vehicle’s exterior.
With the expanded Sincro integration, all dealers subscribed to Sincro’s mid- and high-tier website packages will now be able to augment vehicle images with a complete 360-degree viewing experience. Shoppers can access the enhanced experience directly from the vehicle details page (VDP) of the dealer’s website.
Sincro also integrates with SpinCar’s full suite of digital merchandising solutions. Dealers subscribing to SpinCar’s premium products can take advantage of additional merchandising features, including panoramic views of a vehicle’s interior, interactive hotspots that highlight key vehicle details, VIN-specific feature showcases, damage tags and undercarriage images, as well as access to merchandising performance reports and detailed shopper behavioral data.
“SpinCar’s advanced merchandising platform delivers an enhanced shopping experience for prospective car buyers, which means greater engagement and conversions for dealers,” said Jason Jewert, vice president of strategy and solutions at Sincro.
“Sincro and SpinCar share a passion for improving the vehicle shopping process and we have seen the impact that digital merchandising technology has on driving business meaningful results,” Jewert continued in a news release. “We’re excited to bring this new capability to our customers while continuing to work with SpinCar to introduce new innovations and experiences for consumers and dealers alike.”
Devin Daly is co-founder and chief executive officer of SpinCar.
“Sincro has established itself as a trusted provider to the auto industry, delivering proven technology solutions that enhance the car shopping experience and dealership performance,” Daly said in the news release. “Enhanced digital showrooms powered by exceptional digital merchandising technology are critical for dealer success in today’s era of always-on, connected shoppers.
“Our expanded partnership with Sincro will provide even more auto retailers with access to interactive digital engagement solutions that optimize the shopping journey,” Daly went on to say.
Jeff Allen, who is vice president of customer experience at PureCars, joins the show to talk about the social media advertising landscape for auto dealers, digital retail trends and more.
Plus, he shares what's on his radar for 2022.
To listen to the episode, click on the link available below, or visit the Auto Remarketing Podcast page.
Download and subscribe to the Auto Remarketing Podcast on iTunes or on Google Play.
AutoMiner and Covideo now are working together, so dealers can leverage the capability of video to boost activities in both sales and service.
Last week, the automotive data mining platform released an integrated video messaging tool using Covideo’s proprietary technology, allowing its users to record, send and track videos through the platform.
The companies indicated that general managers, service managers and sales leaders now can record and send video blasts through AutoMiner’s emailing and texting features, targeting prospects with “hyper-specific messaging that is relevant, engaging, and effective,” according to AutoMiner chief executive officer Aaron Sheeks.
“This new video capability is huge for our dealers as they can now add a personal touch and interact directly with customers based on their already-clean target lists inside the AutoMiner,” Sheeks added in a news release.
AutoMiner’s customer data platform with managed marketing services has been designed exclusively for dealers. The tool can combine data from DMS, CRM, and conquest targets in one dealer-accessible platform, allowing dealers to use the data in their BDCs, sales and service departments, as well as in marketing campaigns.
AutoMiner opted to partner with Covideo, as a “trusted and known market leader in the video space among dealers,” Sheeks said.
Founded in 2004, Covideo is a video messaging platform used by dealerships for internet lead responses, vehicle walkarounds, appointment reminders, service repairs and more.
“We always jump at the chance to work with other innovators and market disruptors,” Covideo founder and CEO Jason Price said. “AutoMiner is certainly both of those, and we’re excited to lend our technology to their platform as a resource for the dealers they serve.”
To learn more about the integration and the AutoMiner platform, dealers can connect on a virtual demo with an AutoMiner representative.
I’ve been reporting on the auto industry for 14 years, but even armed with an insider’s knowledge, I still find the car-buying process to be stressful.
But the auto industry, in general, recognizes that many consumers feel this way. And dealers, automakers and other entities within retail automotive have made great strides to put folks at ease when they go make that purchase.
One example of this is the “Finally, It’s Easy” campaign from Autotrader, which features comedic actor Kenan Thompson talking to the smart devices and appliances in his house about the ease of buying a car through the company’s platform.
The campaign was announced Monday and was developed in partnership with 72andSunny New York. There are currently 30- and 15-second TV spots, with another installment to come. Autotrader is also launching supporting creative for digital and social media channels.
“We understand there can be a lot of different anxieties that go along with car-buying — from deciding which type of vehicle you want to buy, finding the right one, test driving, negotiating the price and more — but we want people to know that with Autotrader, it really doesn’t have to be that hard,” said Greta Crowley, vice president of marketing for Autotrader, in a news release.
“The ease of car buying from home with Autotrader means you can let those worries go — and Kenan’s comedic brilliance brings to life all of the tools and information Autotrader has to make shopping, test driving and buying a car from home stress-free and easy.”
I don’t know if reaching Generation Y shoppers of a certain age was also a goal here, but casting Kenan is the home-run way to accomplish that.
The fact that he’s funny is just icing on the cake. The real reason that these spots work is that there’s a certain comfort, a certain familiarity with Kenan.
Especially for so-called “geriatric millennials,” like yours truly, who are barreling towards 40.
Many of us have been watching Kenan since middle or elementary school, starting with “All That” and “Kenan and Kel,” and more recently as the longest-tenured cast member ever on “Saturday Night Live.”
The guy who, as a kid, made us laugh when we were kids has now been a pillar of SNL for essentially our entire adulthoods.
When we see Kenan on TV, we’re usually laughing, but also, we’re at ease.
So, who better than him to embody the notion of taking stress out of car-buying?
And who better for retail automotive to pitch than us elder millennials?
Depending on the birth-year parameters you put on the generation, the oldest of the millennials are in their late 30s or early 40s — often the sweet spot of young families, mid-career professionals and financial flexibility.
“As the tail end of GenX has now surpassed 40 years old, millennials are the largest generation in the prime of their purchasing stage and is squarely into their large auto and real estate purchasing cycle,” Matt Copley, director of product marketing for PureCars, wrote in this guest column.
“And from a spending power perspective, millennials spent $1.4 trillion last year in the middle of a pandemic with restricted global economies.”
The latter shows this generation buys even when times are uneasy. But we’d prefer the actual buying process to be easy.
And ease-of-use is precisely the message Autotrader is conveying through Kenan in these spots.
Copley goes on to say in the column that “millennials know that service is important, but like everything else discussed here they want it to feel like the right experience — friendly faces, online- or app-based scheduling, even pick-up and drop off where available.
“Millennials are interested in buying cars and trucks. However, dealers must eliminate the muscle memory of how they advertise to them, and how they sell to them,” he said. “When dealers embrace an open and flexible purchase process, they open the opportunity to deliver a very Apple-like shopping experience to every customer online and in store.
“This is the type of strategic shift that can win raving fans across every generation and ensure continued success and customer retention years to come.”
And when it comes to winning raving fans and continued success, no one does it better than Kenan.
Nabthat announced a development on Monday that’s relevant to Honda dealerships.
The technology company dedicated to building automotive-centric platforms focused on the consumer experience said it has been certified as a Honda Digital Solutions (HDS) website program provider.
With this certification, Nabthat’s website platform is immediately available to Honda’s approximately 1,000 U.S. dealers.
According to a news release, Nabthat’s website platform offers Honda dealers two choice: A Sport Package and a Touring Package.
The company explained that dealers now have the option to upgrade to a “beyond mobile first” platform using technology such as Angular, Google’s framework, used by leading platforms including YouTube, Gmail and Apple, among others.
Nabthat pointed out its solution also uses single page application (SPA) technology employed by Facebook, Airbnb, PayPal and other top companies.
“We are excited to be part of the Honda certified program and want to thank Honda and our dealer partners for the recognition of our platform and support,” Nabthat chief executive officer and co-founder Jason Silberberg said in the news release.
“Our continued out-of-the-box thinking and approach to a ‘beyond mobile first’ consumer experience has proven to be successful for all our dealers. I believe this is one of the reasons our platform was approved,” Silberberg added.
Nabthat highlighted that it studied where the internet experience will be in five to 10 years to create a multi-million-dollar automotive website technology platform. The company noted that websites are focused on customer engagement and journey patterns based on actual user data.
The company also created intuitive consumer experiences that are designed to increase conversion and interaction in the form of leads, phone calls and map directions.
The platform provides SEO, merchandising, finance application, trade-in tool, entrance engager, behavioral marketing, exit interceptor, Nabthat’s Analytics Engine, and more.
“Nabthat doesn’t constrain functionality with a WordPress platform, we utilize state-of-the-art technology that provides our team, and our dealer partners the ability to build any experience. It gives our dealers the elasticity they need in an everchanging automotive environment,” Silberberg said.
A new brand campaign from digital auto marketplace CarGurus aims to showcase how the site enables shoppers to "do more of car buying and selling online," from the comfort of their home office — or even their home's couch, for that matter.
The "Do More From Home" campaign launched Tuesday with four spots: "Home Office," "We Need Space," "Family" and "Moving." Those are airing nationally on television networks and through social and digital channels.
"CarGurus has set the standard for consumer-friendly car shopping experiences, and this sentiment is at the core of our company’s new digital retail capabilities,” said Sarah Welch, chief marketing officer at CarGurus, in a news release.
"The 'Do More From Home' campaign introduces these new features to a broader audience while also bringing these concepts to life with new Guru characters that perfectly capture our brand’s helpful and techy personality," Welch said.
The campaign, the company said is designed to show how CarGurus instills confidence in vehicle transactions, and aims to highlight the company's latest digital retail capabilitings, including:
- The Finance in Advance offering, which is represented in the "Family" capmaign spot, and enables consumers to prequalify for financing online, introduces new functionality that lets consumers shop from vehicles that can be delivered right to their driveway.
- The "Moving" spot showcases the CarGurus Instant Max Cash Offer feature, where consumers can sell their car 100% online through CarGurus while getting the best offer from the CarGurus/CarOffer network of thousands of dealers.
Further, the "Home Office" and "We Need Space" spots center around the compqny’s capability around making it easy for shoppers to find a great deal on a vehicle, and how CarGurus "separates itself from the pack with the level of rigor behind its deal ratings," the company said.
The brand campaign also takes it beyond just introducing the company's latest digital retail tools; it also introduces customers to two "Gurus" to represent the brand's personality. Throughout the campaigns, these two Gurus pop into situations where consumers are navigating the car shopping or selling process from home and help them feel more confident before buying or selling a vehicle.
As part of the change in creative narrative, CarGurus has brought on a new team for this campaign and partnered with VIA for the creative work and strategy while continuing to partner with Ocean Media for media buying.
"I've always been a huge car enthusiast and our team was thrilled when VIA earned the opportunity to create work for CarGurus," said Chris Avantaggio, creative art director at VIA Agency, in the news announcement. "We aimed to create a campaign that would not only break through the category, but also educate consumers on CarGurus’ smarts, science, scale and new offerings. We were able to bring the brand to life in playful and unexpected ways by casing our duo of Gurus, and we created a campaign that’s unmistakably CarGurus."
The "Do More From Home" spots can be found on CarGurus’ YouTube video library and can also be found below:
CarGurus has joined comedian and car enthusiast Jay Leno for the revival of popular game show "You Bet Your Life."
The online auto platform for buying and selling vehicles has launched a premier partnership with the gameshow inspired by the classic Groucho Marx game show.
What does the partnership entail?
CarGurus will play a big role, and viewers will see the auto company integrated into every episode. For example: the “CarGurus secret word of the day.” When the word is presented by Leno, viewers will see a QR code pop up to scan, which leads them back to CarGurus.com.
“Jay Leno is a leading comedian, but also well known as a car fanatic, so felt like a great fit with our brand,” said Sarah Welch, chief marketing officer at CarGurus, in the press releae announcing ths news. “Consumers have come to trust Jay’s automotive expertise; and as the pioneer in bringing trust into car shopping, we are thrilled to socialize CarGurus to Jay’s vast fan base through this partnership.”
The press release from CarGurus explained its CarGurus logo and a car animation will appear on-screen to bring attention to the seret word, and if one of the contestants says that word during the episode, then that animation will reappear — providing CarGurus with even more brand recognition.
Via this intergration, watchers are pushed through to the CarGurus site, and will be privy to more info on how to find their next vehicle, get pre-qualified for finacing, sell their car and more.
“The ‘You Bet Your Life’ revival is a comedy game show that will bring people together and show that we all have similarities with one another,” said Leno in the news annoucement from CarGurus. “I couldn’t be happier to have CarGurus as a partner in the show’s renewal and I’m looking forward to having fun with the word of the day and how we can help people shop for cars.”
CarGurus has been busy this summer. This past July, the company launched CarGurus Instant Max Cash Offer, a CarOffer-powered platform that allows dealers to acquire used cars online from consumers.
And this past month, CarGurus not only joined in a partnership with SpinCar, but also revealed its fifth annual Best Used Car Awards, recognizing later-model vehicles across 10 segments.
