As the automotive industry continues to slog through a brutal downturn, manufacturers must invariably look for cost cuts where ever possible.  Marketing budgets have been one prominent casualty, with automotive advertising spending down over 15% in 2008. Online marketing can benefit during downturns because it offers ... Read More »

As the economy slowed and gas prices sky rocketed last summer, consumer behavior seemed to change dramatically: consumers traded in big SUVs for smaller vehicles, truck sales plummeted, and Priuses commanded several thousand dollars over sticker.  We also saw a change in behavior on the Internet as people spent more ... Read More »

At automotive companies, Twitter participation (as well as social media in general) is usually the responsibility of corporate communications and/or marketing.  Ford and GM, two of the most active automotive Twitterers, recently held sessions involving senior executives.  Alan Mulally, Ford’s President and ... Read More »

Autotrader.com recently unveiled a new homepage that marks a notable departure from previous iterations.  As shown below, past homepages (from 2002 to 2008) were somewhat crowded, with at least six distinct sections offering different sets of links and functionality.  Among these, research content was given the ... Read More »

The automotive industry is in the midst of turmoil and profound change but there are indications the economy is stabilizing and a recent Reuters/University Michigan survey reports rising consumer confidence. During the Automotive Industry Overview Webcast, presented on May 13, J.D. Power and Assocites economist Curtis ... Read More »

Recent data from Forester and eMarketer illustrates the shift in ad dollars from traditional to digital media.  Forester predicts that interactive marketing expenditures will increase from $23B in 2008 to $55B in 2014, going from a 9% to 19% share of all marketing spending. eMarketer corroborates the projected increase ... Read More »

As someone who has worked in the automotive research industry for several years and is currently studying graduate-level psychology, I have always held a strong curiosity as to what consumers are really thinking when they set out to shop for a new vehicle and what is really driving their shopping behavior.  As the ... Read More »

Even as Chrysler and General Motors race to meet restructuring deadlines, they must obviously continue to build products and market them. A critical component of the latter is instilling confidence in consumers that the products will continue to be supported. Chrysler spokeswoman Jodi Tinson acknowledged this in a May 1 ... Read More »

Four months removed from “The Year of Mobile” it’s clear that many automotive players have finally joined the party.  Below is a list of all manufacturer and third-party mobile sites that I could find, along with the mobile URL and homepage screenshot[s] from an iPhone. As with their web sites, the ... Read More »