Most auto advertisers increased share post game.
Super Bowl advertising is claimed to be efficient because the average automotive advertiser achieving a projected 2.4% increase in retail market share. Auto brands that advertised during the game gained a combined 0.9 percentage point of retail share compared to those that did not.
The cost of airing a 30-second spot during this year’s game was as much as $4.5 million, according to AdAge. Even at that level, Super Bowl campaigns can be efficient.
The claim comes from TrueCar’s comparison of new vehicle order-generation activity in the week following the Super Bowl with a similar week of the prior month. It found that most auto advertisers got a retail share lift after the game. Nissan led with 0.4 percentage point of projected incremental retail share, for a total increase of 4.6%. Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Jeep also did well, with gains of 0.3, 0.2 and 0.1 percentage point and 5.9%, 5.6% and 2.9% increases in share.
“Isolating the incremental sales associated with Super Bowl advertising reveals that the game can be a really effective marketing channel,” said John Krafcik, president of TrueCar. “The marginal unit economics of the auto industry are such that automakers are willing to pay a surprisingly high price tag for incremental sales.”
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
