Luxury automobile makers have put the pedal to the metal and veered off in the direction of online video advertising, making a beeline for affluent consumers and particularly men who are increasingly using online sites to define their buying behavior.
Researchers Martini Media said 94 percent more luxury auto brands used online video this year compared to last year, and almost two-thirds of advertising agencies (65 percent) said auto brands are moving to digital much faster than other brands. And, bad news for conventional TV outlets, 61 percent of auto brands are expected to shift their ad bucks to online sources, a story in BizReport said.
They are simply following the money. Research from iProspect showed men spend big bucks online (as much as $30,000 per year), and nearly all men (91 percent) use a PC at least once a day, while 77 percent have a smartphone and half own a tablet. These affluent males, the study concluded, spend 20 to 30 percent more per transaction than women.
The favorite male brand is Rolex, followed by Louis Vuitton and BMW.
"As consumer confidence has increased we have seen that price is no longer the key driver when purchasing a new vehicle, resulting in a 28 percent increase in shopping for luxury autos," Nick Matarazzo, CEO of Jumpstart Automotive Group, said in the BizReport story. "The luxury auto marketers that anticipated this have not just increased their digital investments almost two fold over last year's spending, but they've also strategically aligned their brands where this luxury audience is spending time."
That's not to say the luxury audience is spending all of its time online--which explains why luxury cars are still so prominent during NFL games, as TV ads are also still effective. In addition, research by Ipsos MediaCT's 2012 Mendelsohn Affluent Survey found that affluent and "super affluent" consumers "still covet print publications" and there was only a 1.3 percent decline in the use of print since 2011.
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Image source: Martini Media |
For more:
- BizReport has this story
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