Selling Cars on the Radio

Friday, January 02, 2009

Selling Cars on the Radio

After seeing this research, I wonder if the radio industry could have saved the car companies? At least they should pay attention to it now:

Possible Automotive Media Rethink

According to a recent analysis of BIGresearch's SIMM database by Prosper Technologies, wide gaps exist between how ad dollars have been spent versus what consumers say works best when it comes to buying a car. The Prosper analysis and media allocation model utilizes the SIMM Survey of 17,231 consumers to determine "what" and "which" media forms are most influential to consumers for buying a car, the consumption of the media, and pricing of various measured media.

Changes demanded by Congress and proposed by the automakers should include a reallocation of advertising dollars, says the BIGresearch summary. The study analysis apparently considers a disproportionate allocation of spending on TV versus other media out of balance with consumer actions.

And, combined with consumer analytics from the SIMM Survey, the report concludes that the amount of radio consumed, its influence to purchase, combined with lower costs makes it a stronger media option for automakers, which, according to consumers, is under-utilized.

The cross platform, consumer-centric media planning and allocation tool presents a modeled media allocation against the actual ad spending characteristics in the selected data.

?Automotive Ad Spend vs. Prosper Media Allocation Model (% of Total U.S. Advertising Spend in 2007)
	*General Motors Spend Share*	*Ford Spend Share*	*Chrysler Spend Share*	*Prosper Allocation Model*
Magazines	12.4%	11.9%	10.5%	15.6%
Newspaper	5.0%	5.2%	6.9%	6.2%
Outdoor	1.5%	0.7%	0.5%	14.6%
TV	39.1%	38.9%	43.2%	17.3%
Radio	3.5%	2.3%	1.9%	21.5%
Internet	7.0%	6.5%	3.0%	8.5%
Other	31.5%	34.5%	34.0%	16.3%
Source: Ad Age Domestic Ad Spending by Category (2007)/Measured media from TNS Media Intelligence's Strategy, Prosper Media Allocation Model