Seven West Media and CarsGuide today are launching an offering to automotive advertisers using recently uncovered insights that point to a major step change in car buyer behaviour, building on the partnership SWM and CarsGuide announced in October 2019.
Commissioned by CarsGuide in 2019, the research confirms the traditional funnel model as out of date with consumers no longer shopping for cars by simple process of elimination but rather increasing the number of brands under consideration before reducing.
Referred to as the ‘Wave’, the research which surveyed over 1,200 Australian auto intenders and recent buyers, supports findings from overseas studies commissioned by McKinsey and Nielsen.
All three studies reveal the number of brands under consideration more than doubles in the research phase, increasing the opportunities for advertisers to ‘interrupt’ buyer shortlists during their research.
CarsGuide’s partnership with SWM aims to leverage these unique and powerful audience insights in concert with CarsGuide editorial to ensure automotive advertisers reach the right auto intender audiences at the most relevant points along their journey.
Commenting on the partnership, SWM Chief Revenue Officer, Kurt Burnette, said: “SWM is an audience company that creates and distributes trusted information and hugely popular entertainment. We want to innovate and create meaningful and proven business outcomes for our advertising partners by connecting with that engaged audience.
“We are delighted to be working with CarsGuide who is also that trusted source of information in the Auto sector.
“By coming together for the first time and creating unique products, SWM and CarsGuide can provide an end to end view of the auto intender journey to be able connect with, offering unique platforms and multiple data points to reach both the passive and active stage consumer the CarsGuide research has identified.”
CEO of Cox Automotive Media Solutions Group, Shaun Cornelius said: “CarsGuide have the experts, data and audience insights to inform market leading content that caters to buyer needs and aspirations in a way that no other editorial content provider can currently match.
“We hold a very different view of the car buyer and their potential triggers. And it’s paying dividends with CarsGuide ranked the country’s number 1 automotive editorial site 14 out of the last 16 months.*” Subaru is one automotive brand working on leveraging the new partnership between SWM and CarsGuide.
Amanda Leaney, General Manager, Marketing, at Subaru Australia, said: “The partnership between CarsGuide and Seven West Media provides a new way for Subaru to reach Auto intenders and Australians at scale.
Through a combination of data and content we are now able to deliver meaningful messages to audiences about our vehicles in both automotive specific environments and lifestyle properties to help us achieve business growth.”
To help advertisers capitalise on this, CarsGuide has developed a number of unique offerings via its internal agency CarsGuide Labs including 3D car scans and a new suite of content driven display ad units. Additionally, SWM and CarsGuide have launched a new auto segment, Under The Hood, during The Morning Show, Seven’s market-leading morning show.
Under The Hood features Matt Baseley from The Morning Show, along with CarsGuide reporter Nedahl Stelio. To find out how this new partnership can work for you and transform your brand salience with auto intenders, reach out to your CarsGuide and SWM representative today.
