Jumpstart Automotive Group

Since the inception of behavioral targeting (BT), the industry has consistently rendered it as its own discipline within the online medium. Agencies plan and buy BT as a separate bucket, treating it as a singular strategy with varied objectives. Research outlets project BT revenues independent of overall display advertising — and those projections are generally very favorable.

For these reasons, businesses have sprouted up in various shapes and forms over the past half-decade trying to capitalize on the potential of BT. Dozens of ad networks now promise the dream of BT, touting millions of behaviors from every category — automotive being one of their favorites. However, many of these behaviors are collected from sources that don’t truly represent what auto marketers are looking for – consumers shopping for a new car. Many repackage used car shoppers, generic search engine queries, and automotive news articles and qualify them as in-market shopping buckets.

But what constitutes a true in-market shopping behavior? I could leave that for another discussion entirely, but it’s actually pretty simple to define. Third-party auto sites are the No. 1 resource that consumers utilize when researching a car purchase (2nd is OEM sites). So it’s safe to say that the shopping activity that takes place on such properties becomes the most qualified audience online.

It’s not queries from a search engine that are the most qualified — although people may use a search engine to ultimately find a third-party site. It’s not a news article about vehicle recalls or gas prices — while people may find these articles useful, in no way does it indicate they are in-market for a car.

With all that said, it comes down to targeting the right audience — and the results will follow. We know that when advertising to consumers in a contextual in-market environment it’s like fishing from a barrel instead of an ocean. But how do you harness the power of talking to those consumers most effectively?

To maximize full potential — reach, frequency of message, impact of message, and results — the optimal approach is to find the right audience (in-market shoppers) and target that audience through contextual and behavioral means. Place value on the consumer’s past and present behavior indicators, rather than where you’re marketing to that person.

At Jumpstart we’ve had over three years of experience delivering successful BT campaigns for our customers. We’ve recently commissioned a study in conjunction with leading targeting company AudienceScience, formerly Revenue Science, on the advantages of reaching a highly qualified in-market audience through behavioral and contextual targeting.

The study concludes that contextual targeting alone demonstrates a high level of impact in awareness, consideration and purchase intent. But when employed in tandem with BT, the impact on those key factors is significantly greater.

Jumpstart worked with Insight Express to develop the study, which took place in July and August of 2008 and included campaigns from a domestic and an import auto manufacturer. Insight Express surveyed our audience in the following manner:

• A control group which hadn’t been exposed to ads for either of the two OEMs.
• A group that was exposed to ads in a contextual environment only from both OEMs.
• A group that was exposed to ads in both a contextual and behavioral environment from both OEMs.

We will be announcing the results of this study in detail next month, so stay tuned!