Driving Interactive Summit panelists from Ford, GM Planworks and KBB debate Tier-2 messaging, the role of virtual campaigns and how to eliminate funnel vision from the marketing equation.

The opening panel at this year's Driving Interactive Summit, held April 16 to 17 in Dearborn, Mich., aimed to cover all the hot topics concerning automotive marketers today. 

Panel moderator Joe Kyriakoza, VP of business development at Jumpstart Automotive Media, brought out the big guns right off the bat, asking if the purchase funnel is really relevant anymore and looking to the panelists for their thoughts on measuring today's model of the funnel against their business objectives.
 
Mary Carpenter, president of GM Planworks, said she believes that the funnel metaphor makes the purchasing process seem too linear and is leading to the faulty assumption that media efforts can bring people through those steps in a rational progression. "The reality now is that technology has made it possible for consumers to go from one point to another within the process. It works the way your mind works and might not follow in a linear direction," she said.

Kevin Brown, senior partner and managing director of Ford Motor Media (FMM), agreed, saying, "I'd like to blow up the funnel, but it's a part of everyday life. It's a way to frame the marketing process. It helps define certain elements of the media mix."

Robin Cooper, VP of advertising and business development for Kelley Blue Book, also expressed her desire to eliminate the funnel, though she admitted that in many ways KBB is a funnel. "The implication with the funnel and with awareness is that people come to a third-party site with their make and model determinations made. Yet, our research refutes this," she said. "The true challenge is to provide content that relates to each person and where they are in the purchase process. The OEMs have an opportunity here to follow with more targeted digital messaging."

Carpenter looks at the issue this way: "Digital technology has allowed a far better way of splitting the world up. We can look at many behaviors and situations of consumers, leading to decisions on sites and advertising. It's not possible to do away with the funnel. But it's now much more dynamic and sophisticated."

Tackling the tier system
The next issue on the agenda involved integrating media and messaging across the three-tier system of automotive, with a particular focus on how best to work with tier 2.

Carpenter acknowledged that this is one of the biggest issues facing the industry today. She said that Planworks is looking toward turnkey solutions and connected (Tier 1 and 3) strategies that help the whole system work together, but admits that no one has nailed down the correct formula yet.

Brown added that since every market and dealer's circumstance is different, digital messaging is a critical part of solving the problems. "Our dealer groups are just starting to get online. We went from five to 50 million spent on Tier 2 almost overnight, and that's just going to keep increasing, particularly as they begin to see the ROI," he said. Brown also commented on strategies he thinks will help bridge the gap between advertisers and users. "How we go to market between Tier 1 and 2 will have to be reevaluated. BT will be extraordinarily important. It will give us the tools to identify where prospects are in the funnel and channel the right messages to them at the right time."

"It needs to be a consumer-focused solution, whatever it is," said Carpenter. "Maybe it's as simple as the consumer makes the choice; for example, choosing to go national or local from the same banner ad."

Who will make the necessary changes?
Another big concern for automotive marketers is a much more inward facing challenge: identifying and hiring the right personnel in a diminished digital advertising talent pool.

Kyriakoza asked panelists how hard it has been to fill key marketing roles in their organizations. Cooper responded that it's a difficult process that takes a long time. "We're bringing people in from outside automotive (mostly from the technology sector)." Brown agreed that it's a constant challenge to get talent, and since there's such churn in the business, maintaining consistency is a big aim.

And how are marketers looking to develop the talent needed to keep up with what clients need?

Part of digital talent is having an overall skill set, according to Carpenter, but there's also a mindset. "Digital mindset reaches beyond one group. The people producing the digital plans are integrating with offline plans."

"At the pinnacle of it all," said Brown, "it's another distribution method/marketing channel. It must be driven from the basic rules of marketing strategy, and that hasn't changed."

Video advertising and the virtual automotive world
Perhaps the most forward-looking discussion of the morning surrounded the roles that video and gaming will play in marketing vehicles. Kyriakoza wondered if automotive was an industry that reads the internet or watches it.

As a marketing pro, Carpenter said she has been a proponent of video for a few years. "There's a shopping experience and an entertainment experience. We use both but plan for them in a different way." While she feels that video strategies will only grow, she admits that right now, the video process is still a bit clunky, and which channels will dominate is still open for debate.

Brown said that video is absolutely a continuing issue at FMM. "Of course we want to take advantage of it. It's about getting users to engage with the brand and video is a powerful medium," he said

Another emerging platform also came up in this part of the chat: virtual worlds. Kyriakoza wondered if there is real money involved in this segment, posing the question thusly: "How many lives does your ad budget have?"
 
Carpenter remarked that while some automotive brands, like Pontiac, have been aggressive in the gaming area overall, Planworks is still trying to work out a place for these experiences in the overall planning process and marketing approach.

Regardless of how virtual strategies work out in the end, Brown said that he applauds Pontiac for its efforts, particularly its presence in the Second Life virtual world. "It's not a marketing play that will turn the company's business around or even be a factor for a long time. But what's interesting is they're putting money where mouth is. Second Life is a low cost, low risk experiment, and a completely new form of marketing. If you believe we're living in this mega-cluttered world where marketing messages are ignored, this is something that should be experimented with."

Jodi Harris is managing editor for iMedia Connection's Driving Interactive. Read full bio.