Cars.com rebrands, launches campaign with new agency partner (Score 65)
Sales Lead: With a new campaign, Cars.com just rolled out a refreshed brand image and campaign..png)
- The rebrand includes a new logo; Cars.com's first major logo redesign.
- The campaign, dubbed "Possibilities," was made by Leo Burnett Worldwide, which the company selected as a new creative agency partner in 2022.
- The campaign features Cars.com's new tagline, "Where to Next?"
- It rolled out across network TV, social, custom integrations, OOH, and various digital and online video efforts.
- The rebrand was designed to promote recent changes to its website that Cars.com has made.
- These improvements make shopping easier for customers researching online.
- They integrate vehicle financing options for the first time and provide shoppers with more contextual and personalized information.
- Thanks to last year's $65m acquisition of appraisal and valuation data company Accu-Trade, which allows Cars.com customers to research their used cars' trade-in values.
- The company will likely:
- Continue rolling out work from this relatively new agency partner
- Implement additional strategy shifts
- Keep increasing spend
- Seek additional new agency partners
- Target demographic:
- A wide target demographic ranging from Gen-Z through Gen-X
Recent leadership shifts:
- Cars.com hired go-to-market strategy and operations head Joe Oliveri in October 2022
Additional spending insights:
- Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
- YTD spend: Since the beginning of 2023, Cars.com has allocated roughly $3.6m toward digital ads, 64% more than the roughly $2.2m allocated within the same timeframe in 2022.
- Last year: The company allocated around $2.7m toward this channel in 2022 after having spent more than double this, around $5.5m, in 2021.
- 2023 ad programming: Cars.com's 2023 commercials have aired during College Basketball, Nightline, and New York Living.
- Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
- YTD spend: The company has spent approximately $5.8m on digital ads YTD, up 45% from the approximately $4m spent by this point last year.
- YTD data: So far in 2023, Cars.com has earned ~706.4m digital impressions via Instagram (47%), YouTube (27%), Facebook (19%), desktop display (3%), mobile display (3%), and desktop video (1%) ads.
- Last year: In 2022, the company's estimated full-year spend increased by 27% to $9.3m from that of $7.3m in 2021.
- Additional channel insights
- The company utilizes Google Ads along with print, local broadcast, digital, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and online video (primarily via Youtube.com) ads.
- Carrs.com sponsors podcasts such as The Glenn Beck Program, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, The Dan Patrick Show, The Charlie Kirk Show, and Today, Explained.
- The company invests in short-form DRTV.
- It has very highly concentrated network TV coverage and will not likely launch a new campaign soon.
Additional agency insights:
- Opportunity: We haven't yet heard of any additional roster shifts following Leo Burnett's appointment last year, so if you haven't yet done so, get in touch soon to offer PR, media, digital analytics, experiential, influencer, and/or multicultural services.
- Cars.com works with agencies on project-by-project bases.
- We predicted that Cars.com would seek new agency partners, as it has with the hire of Leo Burnett, when it hired CMO Jennifer Vianello last year.
- Current agency roster:
- In-House: Creative and media
- Leo Burnett Worldwide: Creative agency partner (2022)
- R/GA: Creative agency partner
- OMD: Media agency partner
- Secret Fort: Digital and social agency partner
Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix; podcast insights by Podchaser; DRTV insights by Media Analytics.
