Nine Relaunches Drive As It Moves To Retire CarAdvice Brand

Nine has today announced it will relaunch the Drive brand as part of a major strategic product rollout over the coming months, positioning Drive as the dominant consumer brand for its significant digital automotive offering.

The new brand, created by branding agency Principals, highlights Drive/CarAdvice’s unique position as the leader in the Australian new car space.

Drive’s new brand is the first stage of a rollout that will see the launch of a new digital product offering over the coming months, prior to retiring the CarAdvice brand during 2021 as the business moves to one brand and one platform.

Nine has owned CarAdvice since 2016 and inherited the Drive brand in the 2018 NineFairfax merger. Since 2019, both brands have moved to share content, product and commercial functions across platforms while also running two separate brands and platforms.

Alex Parsons, CEO of Drive and CarAdvice, said the move was underpinned by a clear vision and strategy to create the future of automotive in Australia, and own the three key areas of commentary, comparison and commerce.

“As the leaders in new car commentary, we have a significant opportunity ahead of us to integrate comparison and commerce and help consumers through their entire automotive journey,” said Parsons

“For Nine, over the past couple of years we’ve been fortunate to own two of the leading automotive brands in the country – Drive and CarAdvice. In a crowded market we are building out a significant and differentiated consumer-focused offering across commentary, comparison and commerce. We are not beholden to the past but driven to the future.

“Strategically we recognised that the ideal number of brands for our consumers and clients is one and there was the opportunity to bring them together to consolidate the best content, functionality and user experience from the existing Drive and CarAdvice platforms onto a single new consumer proposition under the iconic Drive brand.

“Where CarAdvice has its own energy, rich enthusiasm and passion and deep knowledge across the industry, Drive is grounded in its 25-year heritage as an authoritative, familiar and broad auto brand in the minds of Australians. The commonality is that both are seen as highly influential and trusted by car buyers. We want to materially develop those strengths and provide a world-class offering to consumers.

“Changes to the consumer and commercial experiences will be rolled out progressively over the course of 2021, with phase one due to be complete by end of FY21. Of course, the only constant in this world is change and our mantra is to be the best of what’s next, so expect plenty in the coming years as we drive towards the future of automotive in Australia.”

Wayde Bull from brand agency Principals said: “New car buyers today have access to an amazing array of online information and opinion, yet there’s no definitive go-to brand to help Australians find what’s best for them.

“Drive can be that brand, building upon its deep editorial authority, its mass-market familiarity and smart new tools, designed to help every car buyer find their perfect match.

“It’s a brand of scale that the industry is eager to get behind too. We talked to dozens of OEMs and dealer principals who share the challenge of reaching meaningful numbers of informed and ready-to-buy customers in today’s highly fragmented media market.

“Drive has the best opportunity to build a highly informed and ready-to-buy audience at the
scale the automotive industry needs.”

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