Volkswagens are not only fun to drive, they're apparently fun to watch online--even if that means watching advertising.
According to a new survey by Unruly, "Stuck in First Gear? The State of Automobile Marketing in Social Video," one-quarter of all automotive video shares from June 2011 to June 2012 were for Volkswagens. Kia was not far behind with 21.6 percent, while Chevrolet followed a bit further back in third place with 15.3 percent. For what it's worth, it appears that VW, long considered on the frontline of clever print and TV advertising, has just moved its expertise into the ether.
VW's campaign was led by its Super Bowl ad "The Force," which was the "most shared ad of all time," credited with delivering a 127 percent uplift in traffic and driving the sale of 20,902 units, according to EConsultancy.
Interestingly, the Unruly report noted that the auto industry is not leading the social video parade but is "growing at only one-fifth the rate of the overall advertising market," even though 73.1 percent of video sharing in the sector is for content created by automobile brands. This, the report suggests, offers a "significant window of opportunity for other manufacturers to embrace social video."
Unruly also noted that automakers seem set in their ways of using event-driven media opportunities such as the Super Bowl to run out their new campaigns rather than opting into a "large, untapped opportunity to reach consumers throughout the rest of the year."
"We believe social video presents a unique media channel for automobile marketers to engage consumers in order to create brand loyalty, build showroom traffic and drive sales," said Art Zeidman, president of Unruly Americas, speaking in a news release. "Our new research unearths valuable insights that car marketers and their agencies can use to evolve their strategies to build efficacy and ROI into their increasing activities in social media."
For more:
- Unruly issued this news release
- EConsultancy has this story
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