iMedia Driving Interactive 2009: Highlights
This year’s iMedia Driving Interactive was a great success for all involved. The interesting mix of content and presentations brought a crowd of approximately 100 attendees from the OEMs, Regional Dealer Associations, Dealer Groups and their agencies.
The event kicked off with an informative keynote presentation by Delu Jackson from Subaru. He challenged attendees to think differently about their marketing programs and walked through Subaru’s “Heart, Brain, Wallet” platform. This platform was created to align all three tiers and give them an understandable way to reach consumers with the messages that consumers want, when they want them while staying true to the promise of the Subaru brand.
Jackson’s keynote set the tone for the content to come on the first day. He was followed by the presentation of two key case-studies that furthered the discussion of reaching consumers with the right messages throughout the shopping process. Joe Kyriakoza first presented key findings of a study that reviewed how combined Behavioral and Contextual programs work better when done together. He then went on to present a case-study of the Scion Brand. In this he revealed how high profile placements can lift consumer perception, intent and brand awareness.
Day one content concluded with two interesting sessions focused on the actual consumer. Michael Bach from Survey.com walked through the results of an online study conducted with in-market shoppers about their car buying process and revealed that the message that resonated most with shoppers was an “energy/efficiency message.” Shoppers also indicated that the most useful sources of information are still dealer visits, consumer magazines and word-of mouth. An engaging discussion of these sources and how they relate to social media, a topic that recurred many times throughout the conference, became the highlight of the session. We then heard from 5 real in-market shoppers in a focus-group setting moderated by Amy Buckner from Answer Lab and Ann Palmer from RPA. These shoppers gave candid feedback about the car shopping process, what they do, where they go, pain points and things that surprised them. A few key takeaways are that shoppers feel it is difficult to find credible information and that 3rd party sites are more trusted than any other source. Shoppers want the information on their terms reminding us again to give them what they want when they want it.
Day two provided more insight with presentations focused on local retail opportunity, social media, the state of digital advertising, and concluded with two sessions on creative. The conference ended with an agency shootout where two top agencies battled it out over a fictitious RFP. For more about the shootout results, check out the new Jumpstart Blog next week.
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