Report: Radio Is Key For Auto Industry

Pierre Bouvard

Pierre Bouvard, CMO, Cumulus and Westwood One, this week shares his insights in a new blog post covering auto industry trends discussed at the DASH conference in Detroit last week.

The blog highlights Ford's VP, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service, Mark LaNeve, who spoke about why radio remains key to auto advertisers and what radio needs to focus on.

One major highlight: LaNeve was asked about the dictate Ford Dealer Association ("tier two") put in place, requiring media plans to contain 25% of digital media spend. LaNeve indicated that initially, local dealer associations were slow to allocate spending to digital media. Ford's requirement that tier two media plans consist of 25% digital media was "made to jump start the system."

It does not appear that this 25% digital dictate will continue with LaNeve. "I have told the team, I'm not into digital mandates, I want to do what works, I want digital excellence. We will relieve them of that mandate. The spending will sort itself out."

Here are more reasons LaNeve loves radio for marketing the auto industry:

• "Radio is a great storytelling medium." LaNeve was responsible for increasing radio spend at Allstate and noted radio plays an important role in driving traffic. LaNeve said radio's storytelling capability can highlight key areas of product difference, such as safety and technology, and promote urgency to launch sales events.
• "You get scale immediately. It's one of the few places you can get scale." Radio provides "scale and high ROI at a reasonable cost." LaNeve said radio is an outstanding way to get the word out about a one month sale.
• Radio gets results. LaNeve said Ford had some of their best sales months in August and September because of "one big difference, we kicked it out with 10 million bucks of television and radio."
• "You reach buyers when they are in their car." Radio allows customization for geography, demographics, and lifestyle preferences.