AUTOMAKERSLIKEVIDEO,BUT
STILLPOURGASONTVFORBIG
PRODUCTLAUNCHES
H O N DA RECO RDED TH E BIGGEST A N N UA L GA IN IN SPEN DIN G,29%
July 08, 2013 11:00 AM
Carmakers find TV remains the best way to bow a new line even as most other measured media falls
out of vogue.
Ifit's gota screen,autom akers w antto advertise on it.
The top 10 autom akers am ong Ad Age's 100 Leading N ationalAdvertisers
continued their rapid shiftto new form s ofdigitaladvertising lastyear,plow ing
$5.82 billion into unm easured disciplines,a category thatincludes searchengine m arketing,online videos and socialm edia.Thatw as up 34% from 2011.
Butthey're also show ing enduring faith in
the Am erican couch potato.Those 10
advertisers spentabout$6.25 billion on all
kinds ofTV ads lastyear,up 7.3% from 2011,
according to Kantar M edia data.
Driving thatincrease w ere m ajor productlaunches.The m idsize-sedan segm ent,
the industry's largestin sales volum e,saw the redesigned H onda Accord,N issan
Altim a and Ford Fusion launch lastyear.
"Ifyou have a big launch,you need to be in television," said Ian Beavis,exec VP
ofN ielsen Co.'s globalautom otive group.
H onda M otor Co.recorded the biggestincrease in overallspending (29% )am ong
autom akers lastyear.The Accord launch— billed as the brand's largestever by
Am erican H onda's m arketing boss M ike Accavitti— helped boostAm erican
H onda's TV ad spending 27% to $649.2 m illion in 2012.N issan's TV budgetgrew
33% to $638.3 m illion to supportthe Altim a launch.
TV and outdoor advertising w ere the only grow th areas in the top 10 auto
advertisers'm easured m edia,a category thatalso includes new spapers,
m agazines,radio and internetdisplay ads.O verallspending on these form ats
rose just2% to hit$8.26 billion lastyear atthe 10 largestautom aker advertisers.
Ed Beadle,m anager ofm edia strategy for the H onda and Acura brands,said the
autom aker broadened its m edia planning this year w ith a "video-neutral"
approach,m eaning itw ould build aw areness across a variety ofvideo-based
m edia.
Selectcable show s also draw big,com m itted audiences w ho engage w ith
program m ing online.H yundaihas had a regular cam paign aligned w ith AM C's
"The W alking Dead," w hich has becom e a top-rated program in the coveted 18to-24-year-old dem ographic.
Overall,the autom otive industry,including dealers,spent$16.15 billion on
m easured-m edia advertising lastyear,up 6% from 2011.
GeneralM otors outspentallother autom akers,laying out$3.07 billion on
m easured plus unm easured spending lastyear,second only to Procter & Gam ble.
W ith new agencies in place,GM is in the m idstoflaunching 13 new or
redesigned Chevy m odels.
Ford,w hich in 2011becam e the firstin the industry to spend m ore on
unm easured advertising than traditionalads,w idened the gap lastyear.
Cam paigns w ith m ajor social-m edia com ponents helped push unm easured
spending to roughly 53% ofthe total.
Carm akers find TV rem ains the bestw ay to bow a new line even as m ostother m easured
m edia falls outofvogue.
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