AUTO TRADER ANNOUNCES FIRST MAJOR BRAND RELAUNCH IN 30 YEARS
February 22nd, 2008Auto Trader, the UK’s no 1 motoring website and magazine, reaching nearly 10 million motorists, is set to take a larger stake in the UK’s new and used car market with the largest-ever brand investment in 30 years.
The Auto Trader relaunch will see a new brand logo and an enhanced and redesigned website and magazine, supported by a massive £15 million integrated above and below-the-line marketing campaign, across five channels including TV, radio, online, forecourts and retail.
Auto Trader is aggressively seeking to grow its share of four key motoring audiences: 25-34 year-old females; 25-44 year-old male motoring enthusiasts; 45 year-old and over with families; and 45-65 year-old high-income earners, after extensive research on audience segmentation from HPI Research and insight via CACI’s Acorn profiling data.
The above and below-the-line advertising and marketing campaign will take the theme of ‘The World of Cars Made Easy’, developed by ad agency Hurrell & Dawson, and will run across national TV, radio, press, online and forecourts to target the four key audiences.
Auto Trader is embarking on an aggressive online strategy as part of the 2008 campaign to expand its success as the UK’s no 1 motoring website. The online campaign, which is being run by Diffiniti, features high impact home page takeovers on key portals including MSN, AOL, Yahoo, Tiscali, Virgin and Sky, followed by an ongoing home page presence on these sites, which launches on 5th March 2008.
In addition to this, a deeper targeted campaign is being run throughout major portals, as well as niche motoring and interest sites including: Top Gear, New Car Net, Multimap and Female First. The online campaign is focussing on mass reach to help support the above the line activity, coupled with a targeted approach with key partners. A selection of rich and standard media is being used as well as a variety of creative formats. The campaign is aiming to engage the audience with the new messaging while still maximising the opportunities to see. The potential reach of the online campaign is 23 million* across 9 months of activity. (*Source: Diffiniti).
To complement the new brand campaign, Auto Trader is investing in revamping its website to feature a new, simple homepage layout, which allows for greater ‘browsability’, as well as easier navigation. AutoTrader.co.uk’s unique search functionality will also allow users to search for a car by specifying either car body type; colour; prize; or engine size etc. This offers motorists the simplest and quickest browsable search functionality online. The Auto Trader site will encompass the brand’s new strapline - ‘The World of Cars Made Easy’, with improved advice and product areas.
The TV brand campaign, which breaks on 28th February, features advertising across all of the terrestrial networks, along with the main satellite and digital channels including Sky 1, Sky Sports, Film4 and ITV2. The TV ads will run in three bursts: February-April; June-July; and September-October.
The 20 and 30 second adverts will run three executions, featuring an animated ‘World of Cars’ and will highlight three key themes for Auto Trader – Auto Trader allows motorists to search for cars the way they think about cars; Auto Trader has the biggest range of new and used cars with 400,000 vehicles; and Auto Trader has over 50,000 motorists’ car reviews to help car buyers make informed decisions. The adverts will be seen by an estimated 92% of adults* during the launch burst. (*Source: Mediacom).
Mediacom is handling all broadcast and forecourt media buying, which includes a range of national and regional radio activity, including Real Radio, Century, TalkSport, Classic FM, Virgin, Capital, Heart and Xfm. Half of UK consumers* will hear the radio campaign during the launch burst. (*Source: Mediacom).
Auto Trader will also have a major presence on forecourts at launch, taking 100% of the available door graphics and two-thirds of the available nozzles across UK petrol stations. Alongside forecourts, a special range of retail-based activity will run including forecourt media, plus a range of promotions and features across WHSmith Travel, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury, Morrisons, MRG, One Stop, Total and BP outlets.
As part of the campaign, Auto Trader will also be introducing magazine enhancements including a new-look front cover, easy-to-use contents guide and improved editorial content, which will be highlighted in the retail-based activity.
Jonathan Williams, Head of Marketing at Trader Media Group, comments: “We are investing heavily in our online presence during 2008, as part of our wider above and below the line brand campaign, in order to increase our share of the four key audiences across the new and used car market over the next 12 months. Our aggressive investment and development strategy will enable us to continue building upon our unrivalled reputation for providing our advertisers with the most cost-effective and integrated channels to market. This is because we have built the largest captive audience of motorists in the UK.
“We are on course to strengthen our leadership positioning as the expert guide to the world of motoring, providing the best deals on new and used cars, finance and insurance and motoring parts and accessories.
“We have invested heavily in the development of our website so that we can attract more motorists for our advertisers. This will be also achieved by continuing commitment to innovate and invest in our brand. Our investment of over £15 million in a marketing campaign to support the brand is testament to our commitment to further build our market leader positioning.”
Now in the top 50 most visited sites in the UK, Auto Trader is a route to market for one quarter of the UK online adult population, with over 8.5 million users*, who each spends an average of 15 minutes on the site per visit**. Auto Trader attracts a massive audience of car buyers looking to purchase cars across all segments and serves 549 million page impressions per month, with 77 million searches for cars. (*Source: Auto Trader Internal Audi, January 2008) (**Source: Comscore November 2007).
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Notes to Editor:
• With 13 regional Auto Trader magazines across the UK and the Republic of Ireland, and an expanding online presence through AutoTrader.co.uk, the brand is building a competitive position across all effective channels including print, the web and WAP.
• Auto Trader is owned by Trader Media Group, which also publishes market-leading niche titles such as Top Marques, Bike Trader, Truck & Plant Trader, Ad Trader, Motorhome and Caravan Trader, Farmers Trader, Auto Freeway, TNT magazine – all with the largest reach in their sectors, through magazine readership and web visitors.
• Trader Media Group publishes almost 70 titles every week with a combined circulation of 1.5 million and has leading websites for its top titles.
• Trader Media Group, a division of Guardian Media Group, employs over 3,900 people across 40 locations in the UK, Ireland, Holland, Italy and South Africa. The Group is looking to expand on its winning formula: developing a one-stop-shop for motorists; giving trade customers the opportunity to choose all effective channels to market; building the service and relationship with dealers and manufacturers; and strengthening its portfolio of automotive and specialist classified titles.
• Trader Media Group is jointly owned by Guardian Media Group and Apax Partners, with GMG as the majority shareholder.
For further information, please contact:
Karen Hughes/Caroline Burnell
The Drum Consultancy
Tel: 020 7025 8044
Fax: 020 7025 8100
Email: karenh@drumbeat.co.uk
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