Case study
Re-positioning to Attract the Evolving Transportation Consumer
Client/Situation
As consumers change the way they use transportation, our client, a major U.S. automotive manufacturer, is reinventing themselves for the future. Part of this includes re-positioning their brand and communicating their new brand promise. Our client debuted their new ad campaign during the Super Bowl, an ideal opportunity to test the ad strategy.
Approach/Solution
In addition to testing whether consumers understood the new brand position, we needed to evaluate the creative, as well as the impact of all four media channels individually and in combination.
We used digital tagging and a Propensity Opportunity-to-See model (OTS) which allowed us to infer radio and social media exposure (which cannot be tagged) without unduly fatiguing respondents. We also compared the advertising’s performance using our proprietary ad norms database for competitive Super Bowl ads.
Results
The research showed that the advertising campaign met the client’s objectives. However, we also identified ways to improve lift through media choice: television alone was less effective than when paired with digital, and radio did not contribute to any positive impact.
From the creative standpoint, the ads performed below norms for Super Bowl advertising. As a result, our client revised both media and creative strategy for a successful brand re-positioning roll-out.