Toyota’s mass recalls demonstrate how using digital to address issues head-on helps lessen negative brand perceptions.
2012 could be dubbed the ‘Year of the Recall’ for the auto industry with various automakers calling back more than 14 million cars in 12 months for inspections and repairs involving safety issues. For perspective, nearly 14.5 million cars and light trucks were sold last year. The number of cars sold versus those recalled was a near wash by year’s end.
And it was recently announced that Toyota plans to settle an estimated $1.3 billion in class action claims involving sudden, unintended acceleration first reported in 2009 in certain Toyota, Scion and Lexus vehicles. The anticipated settlement would be the largest payout by any auto company, ever.
What’s interesting about 2012 is that in spite of widespread safety issues, auto shopper interest saw negligible impact. In fact, year-end sales were 13 percent better than 2011 and the best we’ve seen in the past five years.
So, what’s going on here?
Maybe it’s a recovering economy or a testament to the loyalty of certain car shoppers who, despite all odds, remain steadfastly devoted to a particular brand. Or, perhaps it’s consumer indifference, which has adapted over time to safety issues... Read more
Archive for Nick Matarazzo 
Ten Ways to Optimize your Mobile Marketing Efforts
(Hint: Focus on the Fundamentals)
I can’t believe the holidays are almost here. As the year quickly draws to a close, Jumpstart is busy putting the final coat of polish on our clients’ 2013 digital marketing strategies.
Around this time each year, as we shore up campaigns for the next twelve months, I ask departments within our organization to develop best practice snapshots for the road ahead. Whether it’s fine tuning successful tactics from the past or exploring what’s exciting on the horizon, our yearly informal think tank nets some interesting results.
I thought I’d share the following highlights from input our product team offered when asked the ways Jumpstart could optimize our clients’ mobile marketing efforts next year. I couldn’t help but think all marketers could benefit from the advice.
1. Remember the fundamentals first.
Sure, mobile is a marketing game changer, but the best campaigns still rely on good old fashioned business principals. In this case, it’s bad business to put the technology cart before the marketing horse.
Identifying what your customers want and need and then leveraging these insights to communicate the benefits of relevant solutions you offer before you decide which mobile strategies to use is always the best first... Read more
Auto’Mobile’ Marketing Driving the Innovation Highway
The statistics1 are overwhelming. This year:
• There are 1.2 billion mobile Web users worldwide
• All mobile phone users will reach 242.6 million
• 94% of smartphones users will be mobile internet users
• Mobile internet users will reach 113.9 million
• Mobile shoppers will reach 72.8 million
• Tablet users will reach 54.8 million
• iPad users will reach 41.9 million
• In the U.S., 25% of mobile Web users are mobile-only
We all know mobile is big and we all know it has enormous marketing potential. What many advertisers don’t yet know (and what’s probably more overwhelming than these statistics) is the most effective way to harness its power.
It’s understandable given challenges such as complications with the myriad of handsets and technologies available, privacy and spam concerns, tiny supplies of valuable ad inventory and obstacles to streamlined mobile commerce.
It’s also understandable why this year, mobile ad spend continues to represent a mere 1 percent of total worldwide ad spend. And why last year, more than half of companies surveyed (58 percent) said they don’t even have a mobile strategy primarily because they’re not sure how to get started2.
What we all seem to clearly understand, however, is that the more consumers buy and use smartphones and tablets, our ability as marketers to leverage this... Read more
