A soft economy changes a lot of the rules in automotive media and marketing.  “Marketplace momentum” which we all have benefited from for the last six years is no longer an ally as consumers re-trench. In their minds “What I need” begins to trump “What I want”, and all automakers start to feel the pain.

Utilizing a “media neutral” format, this presentation looks at media mix in a soft economy, and what has to be done to help nudge consumers back into a “What I want” consumption frame of mind…and ultimately into a new car or truck!.  In a typical automotive purchase funnel we call that nudge the “Persuasion Red-Zone”.  It’s driven by two critical performance metrics; “Purchase Intent” and “Drive to web”.  Based on close to $10 million in advertiser funded “cross-media” ROI research, including multiple automotive studies that all include offline and online media,  the  presentation will examine what media play what roles in a purchase funnel, with special attention being paid to the  “Red-Zone”.  Because the numbers are allowed to speak for themselves, there are no media winners or losers, but there are some automotive media mandates that will absolutely begin to emerge.  

If you agree with the pundits that getting the mix right is the most critical aspect of automotive media planning today, you will want to see this presentation.