Archive: 2008

In past articles in this series, we’ve talked about the emerging meme of phone-car convergence. It is difficult to predict what sorts of automobiles will emerge, or how innovative automobile companies are willing to be in this volatile economic climate, but as we study trends in the two seemingly distinct technology areas of automobiles and cellphones, it is becoming clear that cars are well on their way to becoming highly sophisticated network computers. In this article we look at Android, and why it could be significant to the automobile industry.

Scott Monty heads up social media efforts for Ford Motor Company, an effort he began in July. In that role, he’s responsible for internal and external adoption of social media strategy to help improve Ford’s overall reputation. I sat down with Scott last month to discuss his approach, before what could only be categorized as an extremely active period for Scott.

It’s no secret that automotive marketers will be slashing budgets over the next year. Social media programs, often classified as experimental, may likely end up on the chopping block, but perhaps wrongly so. In 2009, marketers mustn’t drop social media all together in a recession; instead they should refine what social media means to their organization by adopting the following three strategies:

For the recently released FEED: The Razorfish Consumer Experience Report, we conducted an online panel survey of more than 1,000 tech-aware consumers to understand how they used the social, mobile and increasingly dispersed Web. The research showed us that social technologies had caught on big time, across more varied users and uses than imagined.

Your brand is made up of millions of little experiences.

Many companies wrestle with what sort of communications channels to provide their employees and may consider anything other than email a waste of their employees’ time. Company executives visiting a social-networking space for their employees have been known to complain about the potential for diminished productivity. “Can we bury that thing?” is a common design suggestion.

Detroit, we have a problem. Falling marketing budgets and deteriorating purchase volume in the global market put incredible pressure on the automotive CMO. Even without the financial crisis and the beginning of a recession, global share gains for search and interactive media were likely. Faced with significant uncertainty, marketing strategy shouldn’t be limited to optimizing the media mix.

YouTube visitors flipping through automotive-related video clips who come across a made-for-digital dealer advertisement may be surprised at what they see. Common preconceptions would immediately draw parallels to the 1980’s spots for electronics purveyor Crazy Eddie that featured radio DJ Jerry Carroll, or some other overly caffeinated character, screaming in your face.  Not a pretty thought.  But then again, neither is the state of the U.S. automotive industry today.  With U.S. auto sales at their lowest levels in 15 years and with Annette Sykora, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, warning last week that up to 700 dealers nationally could close their doors by the end of year, OEMs and dealers alike are looking for the most efficient ways to connect with consumers and, let’s face it, move metal.

Marketing Hummers has become a tad difficult recently. The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate nearly doubled between the summers of 2007 and 2008 and automotive media budgets decreased more than 11 percent between the first halves of 2007 and 2008, marking 12 consecutive quarters of declining ad spending in this category.

If search engine visibility alone were a leading indicator of sales, the Big Three Detroit automakers would still be on top. Last month iCrossing released the findings of its Vertical Visibility Index: Automotive, its first study analyzing the paid and natural search visibility leaders amongst automotive OEMs in the U.S., and revealed: