Transcript 0:01 [upbeat music] You're listening to ASOTU CON Sessions by Effective, live from ASOTU CON 2023. [upbeat music] Ben. Paul. Thank you so much for joining me on ASOTU CON Sessions by Effective. 0:19 Uh- Thank you for having me. And I just wanna thank, thank you all for being such supporters of ASOTU CON and- Yeah... being a part of the movement. Yeah. 0:25 I think, I think the message that you guys are putting out there, um, is exactly what the industry needs right now. Um, so we are, uh, 100% behind you guys in making that happen. 0:33 We had a great time last year at the first ASOTU CON in Philly. Um, and so we're really looking forward to coming back here again. Yeah. Well, you're here, and we're in full effect. I think we- [laughs]... 0:42 we've kind of stepped it up a notch. Yeah, it looks great. And, uh, the energy and then just the compliments around all the, all the sponsors that have helped make this- Yeah, this is a fantastic setup... fantastic. 0:50 So, uh, let's talk about, um, your trip in automotive. And I love it when I don't know all the backstory because we can get into it a little bit. How did you get into automotive to begin with? So, uh, uh, the... 1:03 In 2016, our company recognized that the automotive vertical, um, just had so many arms and legs to it, and it was way too important from an advertising perspective, and that we had to have people who were specialists in it. 1:14 And so we created- Who was selling it before then? It was just, it was anybody. You had a couple- The same guy selling the, the plumbing company- The pizza place... and the pizza place. That's exactly right. Okay. 1:21 Yep, 100%. Um, and so, so, uh, in 2016, they said, "We're gonna stand up the automotive vertical, and we're gonna have teams that are solely focused on, um, uh, calling on automotive dealers." 1:31 I can't believe that it is that recent. Yeah. Yeah, well it does, it seems like it's been a long time. Seven years. We, we have grown, uh, leaps and bounds. 1:41 The, uh, the account executives and the management and the leadership that we have, um, dedicate, there's so many time, so much time and resources, um, put towards, uh, understanding the business, putting together technologies to help dealers reach their, uh, audiences. 1:56 Um, and it's, it's, it's a really fun ride. It's been great. It's been great. So, um, tell me about the team that you lead, and, and, like, the team that you're on, the team that you lead. 2:05 You know, what, what does the structure look like? So, so my team... In Philly, we got two teams. My team pretty much handles the PA side, um, of Philadelphia. We bleed a little bit into Jersey. 2:13 Um, but I, I think if you add up the years that we've been with the company, it's probably somewhere around 100. [laughs] It's one of those. [laughs] Um, so it's just we- Over a century of experience. 2:24 [laughs] It's su- super experienced. Um, e- you know, everybody's a professional. I got four lone wolves. [laughs] Uh, they, they kick butt, uh, every day. I, and I l- I love working with them. They're just great people. 2:34 They really are. Most of them are friends. I've kn- I've known them all for so... 'Cause I've been there 20 years, so, you know, it is- I mean, that makes a great environment. 2:40 I think whenever you're doing business with a company, to be working with people who enjoy working together makes all the difference- Yeah... in the actual performance- Yeah... in my experience. 2:49 And, and it helps when you're in, you know, sometimes, uh, high-stress environments, um, when you know the people you're dealing with really well and, um, you know, you can communicate, uh, on that level. 2:59 It's really, it's nice. I'm, I'm lucky, I really am- Yeah... with the team I have. Fantastic. Um, you have access and I think a unique view on the industry because you see what a lot of people are doing. 3:11 You have access to a lot of data. Yeah. Um, you have a l- access to a lot of channels. 3:15 What are, what are the things that are kind of like bubbling to the surface from your perspective, from an advertise perspective, from a video perspective, that you might have a unique awareness of that a lot of people may not be seeing yet? 3:27 So I think re- you know, what's happening, uh, now is, um, uh, first-party data is, like, king, right? 3:35 And when we're talking to dealers, whether they're doing something with us, 'cause obviously there's a lot of vendors out there- Yeah... and they, they're very... A lot, a lot of them can be helpful. 3:42 Um, the ones that are dealing in first-party data are the ones that we recommend, um, you know, where we can kind of pull in other, uh, really good companies like Polk or even do, start to do data sharing with dealers, uh, and things like that, uh, to really reach audiences, get, and, and get unique views. 4:00 What does that mean? Like, like, educate me. Data sharing with dealers. 4:02 Okay, so, um, and, and this is, uh, you know, we've tested this where, um, in a third-party compliant way, we upload, uh, h- our subscriber data, um, compared to the customer data for a specific dealership, and then we can run ads that are on networks and websites targeted towards their particular customer. 4:22 Without sharing data- Without-... one way or another... without sharing one way or the other, right. Right. It's kinda matching it up, cleaning room, yep. Yeah, right. It's in third party. 4:28 Um, and what, you know, i- i- sort of the next level of that, um, because w- one of the ways we tested it is with a dealer group, and they, it was during chip, and they w- want to do a message of, "We wanna buy your car back," right? 4:39 'Cause they sold the car to them, now they wanna buy it back 'cause they were, they were looking for inventory. Um, another extension of that is to sort of create, like, a lookalike audience. 4:47 So these are people, um, or households that have characteristics of a dealer's customer- Yeah... but may not have necessarily purchased from that dealer yet. Mm-hmm. 4:55 So what better way to try to acquire new customers than to reach somebody who looks like your customer but hasn't worked with you yet, right? Got it. 5:01 So that's kind of, um, some of the things that we're headed towards now. I mean, um, addressable has always been something that was sort of pie in the sky, um, and we're just starting to, to have those discussions. 5:12 Explain that because, uh, I think that some people listening to these shows have varying levels of understanding- Yeah... when we say addressable. So addressable meaning, um, if we're... 5:22 Uh, choo- choose your target, target in market for SUV, um, uh, we, we know based on with Polk information and the subscriber data that we have that we can literally deliver a commercial to a household that we know has an SUV that potentially could be three years old, and they might be in the market again. 5:38 Yep. And that's really what we're going towards. I mean, we're in the early stages of that. Um, but that's where it's headed. And as, as TV becomes more digital and as TV becomes more like the internet- Mm-hmm... 5:49 um, we're only gonna have more ability to target. So targeting ability definitely on the rise big time. Yeah. 5:55 Your ability to match data up, especially as dealers are getting more intentional about collecting and aggregating their f- their first-party data. Mm-hmm. Right? 6:02 There's obviously this big intersection that is here now that-Has never been here before. Yeah. And it is certainly just poised to keep getting deeper. 6:10 Well, and that's, that's one of the, um, uh, sort of the prerequisites for when, if we're gonna try and do these things with dealers is they have to do a really good job of managing their back-end systems, right? 6:21 And so the ones that we've done this with and piloted so far, um, are people who are set up for it, 'cause not everybody is yet. Yeah. 6:27 I think that's, that- that's something that's happening in a conversation I'm hearing a lot is a lot of conversations about CDPs and what are people actually doing with it. Yeah. 6:38 If they g- like, okay, like, I wanna get one, and then what do I do with my data? Right. Like, you need something to still, like, deploy it. Yep. 6:47 And I think that's a big misunderstanding, like, I, a CDP, I don't have one. Do you have one? You have one? I need one. Right. Right? So, I mean- And then what do you do with it? Right. And then what do you do with it? 6:54 Yeah. So you're saying that you're working with people that kind of are already on the path, getting it together that- 100%... know what to do and un- so there's, like, a requisite understanding- Yeah, and I, I think-... 7:04 and a commitment to it... the, the, the industry is getting there. Some people are there. Um, a, a lot aren't, and that's okay. Um, you know, we're, they're evolving like we're evolving. 7:12 Um, and the technologies will continue to, to get better, and then, uh, you know, w- we'll kind of grow together. 7:18 And if you do, if you make the investment and the time investment in learning, and you do, what's the upside of, of getting it together and then starting to deploy that first-party data in a sophisticated way through a video advertising platform? 7:28 Uh, it just, it, it, it's for efficiencies, right? Um, the media market is so fragmented now. Um, and anything that you can do, 'cause you can't be everywhere all the time. Mm-hmm. 7:37 Um, so if you have the ability to, especially with first-party data, to know that you're targeting, um, in the best way possible and putting yourself in front of the audiences that are most likely to purchase a vehicle from your dealership- Mm-hmm... 7:48 the, through geography and/or, um, uh, just, it, what they have sitting in their driveway, then that, that's a huge plus. It's a huge plus. So, all right. So we're talking about the data. 8:00 We're talking about deploying it well. G- talk, let's talk for a minute about creative. It's one of my favorite things to talk about. Yeah, sure. 8:06 And so the, the creative game in video advertising has changed a lot, what works, what doesn't work. Um, definitely people that are more in a streaming mindset than a network television mindset. Yep. That's right. Right? 8:17 We're starting to see all these things kinda come into play. When you, when you think about the creative that auto dealers are using, and maybe if you get, put your wish list together 8:27 for the type of creative you wish they were making or would encourage them to make, what are they making and what, what do you think they should be making? 8:34 I, you know, I- I mean, obviously I'm making very big blanket statements about they- Well, it's, it, it's, it's about what's going on in the market, right? 8:41 When we went through COVID, and we were in Pennsylvania and dealers' doors were shut, it was the messaging shifted to, "Our doors are still open for s- for service." Right. "We can still service your vehicle." 8:50 Um, as we went through CHIP, we had a lot of dealers that, you know, uh, wanted to buy, wanted to buy cars back, and they were willing to pay the most for their car, and you see, we still see a lot of that. Mm-hmm. 8:58 So there's a lot that resonates with that. I mean, me personally, I like things that are funny. Um, it's hard to pull off funny and an incentive in the same ad- [laughs]... um, without being, like, goofy. 9:07 Um, so- Funny and not goofy. Yeah. Right. But there's, there's some, there's some really quirky ones that, um, I l- I love, I love. 9:14 It's g- sometimes it's fun just to literally go into our video library and just start looking at car dealer commercials. Oh, I would love to see that so much. That, some, there are some... 9:20 I'm, I'm gonna send you- Please do. I was gonna say, I'm gonna- [laughs]... I'm gonna hit you up because we will, we will, like, play these things as, like, intermission- [laughs]... 9:28 intermission video clips every so often. I'll get in trouble. I get in trouble. You gotta watch it, and not, you can't show anybody. [laughs] Okay. 9:33 Well, this, if, if you see something and are offended by it in the future, this- [laughs]... I didn't get it from Ben. [laughs] That's right. I just found it on the internet. I know nothing. 9:40 No, but I would love- [laughs]... to see the, the fun stuff- Yeah, there's some good stuff out there... and the good stuff. 9:44 You know, I often encourage dealers to look at other retail industries and say, like, "What type of content are they making? What type of content do you not skip?" 9:54 And I think there's this thought that, like, when we're making car commercials- Yeah... it's gotta feel like a car commercial. Kyle and I were working, uh, with a dealer group, and we were watching the car commercials. 10:05 We were kind of on a consultative basis. And the commercials, we're like, "I don't know if this agency's gonna cut it." Yeah. Right? 10:12 You look at it, and it's like, uh, looks like a guy walking between two lines of cars waving his hands, like, "This one and this one and this one." Right. 10:19 And then we were having this conversation with the dealer, uh, the general manager, and then what happened was we were like, "Let me check this agency's, you know, s- website." 10:28 We got to their website, and they had some of the coolest content I've ever seen. Yeah, that's cool. Music videos and- Yeah... 10:35 and we were like, the, they, they had just left, and we called, like, "Can you call them and have them come back?" Right? 10:40 So the owner agency comes back, and he's sweating at this point because [laughs] you know- [laughs]... like, he probably feels so bad. And, and we're like, "Hey, 10:48 what, what, where'd all this stuff go, this great content that we just saw?" Yeah. Yeah. "How come, like, that's what you're making?" And they're like, "Oh, well, you know, we, we, we had to make a car commercial." 10:59 Well, some of it's co-op, right? So the dealer gets co-op- Well, right... because they have to do X, Y- Of course... and Z at, in the commercial. Right. 11:04 I'm not, right, and I'm not advocating for, like, you know, uh, with the empathy to that. Yeah. Just the manner in which, it doesn't mean it can't be shot well- Right... or creatively- Oh, yeah, 100%. 100%... 11:15 or the dep- or the, the music curation can't be different. Yes. And that's the mindset I think that a lot of dealers get in. 11:20 And, you know, from your standpoint, you're like, "Please, give us some great creative," because you know it's just gonna perform, you know, ex... How, how much, let me ask you. Yeah. 11:30 When you have a c- uh, a piece of content that has good creative- Yep... how much differently does it perform? 11:37 Well, I mean, the view-through rate on, uh, uh, most of what we're doing from a, from a streaming standpoint is non-skippable anyway, so, uh- Okay... it all performs pretty well. Gotcha. 11:47 Um, some of the things that we recommend, um, depending on if you're doing any kind of short-form or long-form, if, if you're gonna show up in a two-minute clip on something, you keep it to a 15, and that's normally, like, straight-up incentive driven. 11:58 Um, if it's gonna be more long-form, um, you know, we're sticking with the 30 because you get the opportunity to tell your story and it's non-skippable. It's in that- Yeah... non-skippable environment. 12:07 Um, but, uh, yeah, I, I mean, the standard commercial is a donut, where it's the dealer in the beginning, it's the incentive in the middle, and it's the dealer at the end. 12:15 [laughs] Um, but some of the, some of the best ones are, they, they don't use co-op for because they want the creativity to be able to make their dealership top of mind as opposed to-You know, it's one- The brand and the car that we're selling right now. 12:27 One and done. One and done. Right. Yeah. Yeah, I have seen a number of dealers that have stepped back from co-op- Yeah... 12:31 for that, and, you know, I c- I can say it because I, I don't have a, I don't have anyone to answer to, [laughs] I guess. Um, I really wish that OEMs or co-ops would, would take a serious look at that- Yeah... 12:44 and get a little bit more broad in what they allow co-op- Yeah... to, to contribute to, and what they don't. 12:51 And I think in order for that to happen, the marketers on the dealer side also have to understand what the co-op is trying to accomplish. Right. And, and I do believe that there's a world where they both live. 13:01 Now, granted, sometimes it just needs to be, like, a 15-second incentive. Yep. But we know that that's not the only thing the customer saw. Exactly. Exactly. 13:09 I think the best campaigns don't have just one commercial, right? They've got- Gi- give me an ideal campaign. Uh, an ideal campaign, you, you're, you're running one commercial that is truly hard-hitting incentive. 13:18 This is your monthly incentive. You've got another branding spot that talks about you in the community, in the dealership, your, your dealership, what you do, why, that, that your, that your people live in the community. 13:27 They work in the community. Um, and then, again, I'd throw another one in that's just sort of quirky, funny, something that people are gonna watch 'cause it's entertaining. Yeah. If you, you know, you... 13:36 And you can marry that up, where as you get towards the end of the month, you're driving the incentive a little bit more. E- e- earlier in the beginning of the month, you do something that's a little more soft sell. 13:44 Right. The mix changes. Right. Um, so to me, that's sort of the right balance. Um, you know, but then- So dynamic and well-rounded. Yeah. And, but that, that takes a lot of work. 13:53 You have to, you know, keep, stay on the c- creative. So, um- Well, that's one of the reasons I think that so many co-op dollars are actually wasted. Yeah. 14:00 Because if you put a little bit of work into it, they wouldn't be wasted, right? Yep. That's, that's where we start to get into where things start to sound like noise. Right. And then it's bad for everybody. 14:10 It's bad for every co-op dealer. It's bad for the OEM. I think at that point, when you're, when you're just doing the incentive, you're literally talking to somebody who's like, "I think I need to buy a car now." 14:18 You have to know. Right. Right? You have to know that they're ready to go, and you also have to know or have to believe that you've done the work- Yeah... to kind of have them take a step forward. Right. 14:27 So that's what we think some of the other creative can be used for, is to sort of drive people f- into the consideration phase, where then the hard-hitting incentive, uh, i- hits home a little bit sooner than it might have otherwise. 14:37 Absolutely. Well, Ben, it's been so much fun- Thank you, Paul. It's been great... uh, sharing a podcast stage with you for a little bit at ASOTU CON. Thanks again for your support. Thank you. 14:43 And, uh, looking forward to hearing for more, from you more in the future. Absolutely. I have some creative coming your way. All right. 14:47 [laughs] [upbeat music] Thank you for listening to this ASOTU CON session by Effective. If you want more content like this, you can check out our other podcasts. 14:59 We have a daily show called The Automotive Troublemaker, Monday through Friday, here on podcast, also live streamed on YouTube and LinkedIn and Facebook. We also have a long form podcast called Auto Collabs. 15:11 Auto Collabs. And if you just wanna go a little deeper into this community, you should sign up for our regular email. We put our heart and soul into it. You can get it for free by going to asotu.com. 15:23 We'll see you next time. [upbeat music]
