Ford and GM Showing Market Share Gains in Early 2013

Monday, April 22, 2013 by Tom Libby

Ford and GM are now solidly profitable and Ford's credit rating has moved out of the junk category, but the U.S. market shares for both companies declined significantly in 2012. Whether share is calculated by looking at the first two months of this year versus the same time period a year ago or versus all of last year, the results are the same. While these trends are discouraging in and of themselves, they are particularly concerning right now because the European operations of both companies...

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The "Disconnect" Between the U.S. Economy and the U.S. New Vehicle Market

Thursday, October 4, 2012 by Tom Libby

We hear all the time about the troubled U.S. economy. If it isn’t high unemployment, it's the sluggish GDP or a decline in manufacturing or something else. But, there is also frequent mention in the media about the positive trends in the car business. Car and light truck sales are up, the manufacturers are turning in hefty – sometimes record – profits and even adding jobs to keep up with strong demand. There seems to be a disconnect here. How could the car business be doing so well while the...

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Asian Automotive Advertising Excellence Celebrated at 3AF Marketing Summit

Tuesday, June 5, 2012 by Marc Bland

The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas served as host to the 3AF (Asian American Advertising Federation) The 2012 Annual Asian Marketing Summit on May 16-17. The goal of the annual summit was to share marketing best practices and celebrate the leaders in Asian marketing.

With Asian Americans representing one out of every 20 new vehicles purchased in the U.S., it's easy to see why automotive market leaders including Toyota, Honda and Nissan were well represented at the conference.

  • Nissan-Admerasia...
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Facebook & Cars

Friday, May 18, 2012 by Lonnie Miller

Facebook has a big day today. I imagine many employees will thoroughly enjoy their happy hour after they leave their offices in Menlo Park and other locations. Mark Zuckerberg...he's going to certainly relish his ringing of the NASDAQ bell in New York. Third largest IPO many analysts say. Crazy.

Auto folks - you're watching, right? Of course you are. New media has been emerging and in the eyes of the business community, and consumer sector, Facebook appears to have something to offer. Debate...

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Digital Video: Television's Friend or Foe?

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 by Therran Oliphant

Digital video is, to put it mildly, a very hot topic in the online and mobile advertising industry. Recently, moves by digital video companies have placed them in direct competition with television. Let me explain. Companies like Hulu and Netflix have created a model to view content previously reserved for larger screens, be they television or theater. YouTube, the largest video viewing service, recently broke their service into channels with original content. Two different models, both focused...

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The Three Benefits of Digital Video and TV

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 by Therran Oliphant

Everyone wants to figure out what effect the digital landscape is going to have on the mammoth $70B television advertising spend that occurs yearly. Already, we've seen display advertising video ad nets, like Videology, TubeMogul and Adap.TV begin to buy remnant inventory through the Real-Time Bidding (RTB) process, out of exchanges and Demand Side Platforms (DSPs). While each of their business models is different, this is a drop in the bucket compared to the total television/video inventory...

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Responsibility and Accountability: Automotive Dealer Loyalty

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 by Brad Smith

Last month, I had the opportunity to speak at the Digital Market Strategies Conference, an event hosted by First Class Educators. If you are focused on the retail side of the automotive industry and haven’t attended an event hosted by First Class Educators, I highly recommend it. The staff, venue and speakers are top notch.

I co-presented during the afternoon keynote address with Matt Murray from Dealer.com. Our session focused on the impact of social media on initial vehicle purchase and...

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OMMA Metrics Research and Data

Tuesday, February 28, 2012 by Therran Oliphant

Last week, I attended Online Marketing and Media Association's (OMMA) two-day Metrics &Research and Data events. The conversations around data and metrics were extremely high level, which is counter-thetical to the typical rhetoric at big conferences. Often, speakers and panels dance the platitude shuffle and never say anything really controversial. This particular set of conferences was completely different. 

The first day consisted of the Metrics and Research portion of OMMA's content. Among...

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Super Bowl Automotive Ad-ness

Thursday, February 2, 2012 by Therran Oliphant
The Super Bowl always garners gaudy numbers for their ad campaigns. Now, we're getting prequel ad hype by some automotive brands, intending to move customers' attention from digital video to the large screen with teasers and themed commercials. They're utilizing their own properties and YouTube to increase "watches" and subsequent anticipation of their ad campaigns. 

It seems to be paying off for Acura, with this ad boasting guest spots from Jerry Seinfeld and and Jay Leno competing to be...Read More »

Marketing Technology Winners and Losers at the North American International Auto Show

Friday, January 20, 2012 by Therran Oliphant
On Star Full Life Size Touch Screen
I noticed much more enthusiasm at the industry preview and press week, which was held during the North American International Auto Show. I went to multiple events where forced optimism from the previous couple of years was replaced with genuine excitement and positivity. On Thursday, January 12, I finally walked the show floor. The cars look great this year, but that isn't why I went. I had a subversive motive for walking the floor this year. I wanted to see how each OEM ranked in their NAIAS...Read More »

The Three Ways Analytics and Data can Drive Online Ad Spend in 2012

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 by Therran Oliphant
For online display advertising of all types, 2011 was a banner (no pun intended) year. This segment (which includes rich media, banner ads, online video and sponsorship) was expected to grow to 37% of the market, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau's mid year Internet Advertising Revenue Report. Then in Q3, the industry saw a spike of 22% overall. So, online advertising is strong. Consumers are taking advantage of the interactive media access points that are availed to them through...Read More »

Connectivity in Cars, the Next Great Platform

Friday, December 9, 2011 by Therran Oliphant
Once again, we're coming up on the end of the year - that time between Thanksgiving and New Year Year's Eve when everyone seems to be making their predictions about what's going to be hot or next in the coming year. Digital marketers are no different and one of my favorite publications, Mashable, has released a video of '5 Key Digital Media and Advertising Trends for 2012.'  Usually I hate to say I told you so, but if you haven't been heeding the contents of this blog then, "I told you so, and...Read More »

Google+ Business Pages & Why the Automotive Industry Should Care

Monday, November 14, 2011 by Therran Oliphant
Google+ Logo Hopefully you've heard, if you're a marketer or manager of any brand, that Google+ just launched business pages. Originally, pages were sent out to beta testers who sent invites to friends and business associates to allow the Google branded social network to grow organically.

There were NO businesses allowed, from the inception. A few months and about 20 million personal page signups later, Google opened up Google+ to businesses, and the digital marketing world couldn't be more abuzz with...Read More »

De-Mystifying Online Audience Data

Tuesday, November 8, 2011 by Paula Skier
Audience data has become increasingly important in digital marketing, including online display, video, mobile and social media. Data allows advertisers, agencies and web publishers to optimize ad delivery, evaluate campaign results, improve site selection and retarget ads to other sites. Data also enhances the value of media to marketers by delivering their advertising message to better-qualified prospects.

With the growing reliance on audience data for online advertising, many questions are...Read More »

TV Advertising Enters the Age of Databases

Wednesday, October 26, 2011 by Paula Skier
Last week, I had the pleasure of participating in an automotive panel at Rentrak's 4th Annual Industry Insights Forum in New York. Their audience – mostly senior TV network and affiliate executives, agency media planners, analytics and data providers – agreed that TV is becoming more metrics-rich than ever before, which is good news for a mature, entrenched advertising ecosystem that finds itself in the throes of disruptive technology.

The concept of "best available screen" is changing the nature...Read More »

The Year of Video: Online Advertising's Next 'Big' Thing

Thursday, October 20, 2011 by Therran Oliphant
After doing a month and a half North American tour of just about every imaginable entity within the digital advertising ecosystem, from mobile advertisers to social media agencies and industry conferences, I have come up with this conclusion. Every year since 2006 has been "the year of mobile," but 2012 will be the "year of video." The idea that storytelling is the most important marketing trait since message clarity; mixed with higher engagement and consumer immersion; with a touch of...Read More »

Family Sedan Market Heats Up

Wednesday, October 19, 2011 by Tom Libby
If you are in the market for a family vehicle or will be in the near future, and you don't necessarily need the functionality of a crossover or minivan, you may want to take a look at the family sedans now available or coming to your local dealer. During the next six months, there will be a lot of product activity in this category, and those family sedans not being redesigned remain crucial to their respective makes.

Three redesigned midsize family cars are either being launched now or will be in...Read More »

The Mystery of Steve Jobs' Plateless Car...solved (maybe)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 by Paula Skier
My post last Friday, "The Mystery of Steve Jobs' Plateless Car," got a lot of attention in the blogosphere. There were several intriguing comments, a few questions and even some answers that came to light from this conversation, which I thought were worth sharing.

One thing that struck me based on the comments was a perception about who was looking into Steve Jobs car. Just to clarify, Polk did not run any type of look-up about Mr. Jobs or his car from our data sources. The story I told is based...Read More »

The Mystery of Steve Jobs' Plateless Car

Friday, October 7, 2011 by Paula Skier
We were all saddened by the news of Steve Jobs' passing earlier this week. There is no denying the tremendous positive influence he had on the technology and products we use every day. There are many moving tributes to Mr. Jobs in the social media, and I would encourage you to take some time to explore them.

But for now, I'd like to share something about Steve Jobs that you might not know. It's about his car. Since automotive marketing is what we do here at Polk, I thought it was a relevant...Read More »

Polk Automotive Connections 2011 - Closing Thoughts

Wednesday, September 28, 2011 by Paula Skier
Throughout September, I had the privilege to lead Day 2 of the Polk Automotive Connections Summit 2011, titled, "Connecting Brands and Audiences across Multiple Channels." The conference was well attended and so far, feedback has been very positive. Despite the diverse audience in three different locations (Long Beach, CA, Southfield, MI and Park Ridge, NJ), I observed several recurring themes about the challenges we are facing in today's automotive digital marketing landscape.
  1. Technology is...
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