It would seem advertising automaker's efforts to get viewer attention worked during this year's Super Bowl. At least if data from Cars.com is any indication.
Automakers Big Game Boost
Just four automakers ran spots this year: Kia, GM, and Stellantis brands Jeep and Ram. Cars.com says all of them saw surges in visits to their pages on its website - a 81% lift collectively.
Three of the four ads featured all-electric vehicles - but the one that didn't is the one that proved most successful in garnering brand interest on the Cars.com site. Cars.com says Kia's Telluride spot had a 230% spike in traffic to its branded pages following the airing of its ad, “Binky Dad.”
GM, Ram and Jeep all ran ads featuring electrified vehicles.
|
Brand and Commercial |
Brand Lift on Cars.com |
|
Kia “Binky Dad” |
230% |
|
GM “Why Not an EV?” |
50% |
|
Ram “Premature Electrification” |
46% |
|
Jeep “Electric Boogie” |
13% |
GM
RAM
JEEP
Ford also benefited from Super Bowl advertising, as did BMW, even though neither automaker advertised. Cars.com says Ford saw a 118% increase in EV engagement on Cars.com from Ram’s ad and a 146% lift on Cars.com during GM’s “Why Not an EV?” ad. BMW saw an 70% increase in views of the luxury automaker’s EVs during the GM/Netflix ad and a 33% bump during Ram’s pharma-spoof commercial.
Other surprises included:
- Tesla: Used Teslas saw a 26% bump on Cars.com during Jeep’s “Electric Boogie” ad. The electric-car brand saw an even greater bump (29% for used Teslas) when Elon Musk was shown in the stands.
- Porsche 911: Porsche 911’s saw a 47% increase in page views on Cars.com following the trailer for the new “Transformers” movie that features Mirage, a Transformer character that replicates the Porsche 911.
- EV-Curious Fans: In addition to brand-specific searches, Cars.com visitors looked more broadly for information on EVs, causing a 21% increase in EV page views on Cars.com, which appeared to benefit some automakers’ EVs.
So why so few car ads this year? Cars.com says that about 5% of Americans are actively in the market to buy a car at any given time, so many brands strategically sit out the big show and spend a fraction of the cost on hyper-targeted digital advertising.
Photo Credit: Kia.