the impact of blogs on the automotive shopping process

© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Impact of Blogs on the Automotive Shopping Process

Gene Cameron

Vice President, Marketing/Media Solutions

Chance Parker

Vice President, Web Intelligence

February 12, 2009

© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

All Rights Reserved.2

1. The increasing AND changing role of the

internet among automotive shoppers.

2. It looks like a blog, it sounds like a blog,

and it says it’s a blog…is it a blog?

-Chevy Volt Case Study-

Chance Parker

Gene Cameron




The winds of change are blowing

• Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger told

analysts Tuesday that some of the entertainment empire's

businesses, like its broadcast television network, are

feeling "signs of secular change as competition for

people's time is increasing and the abundance of choice is

allowing consumers to be more selective."

WSJ, 2/10/09

http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=dis




62%

64% 64%67% 67%

70%

75%

26%

34%

43%

47% 47%

54% 53%

59%61%

40%

54%

60% 60%

20%

40%

60%

80%

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Used New

Based to new and used-vehicle buyers

Source: J.D. Power and Associates 1999-2008 New/Used Vehicle Studies

Automotive Internet Usage Trends Used – Vs.

New – Vehicle Buyers 10-Year Trend

The New Vehicle Buyer has made the Internet their primary shopping medium




Why this matters to the Auto Industry

• For the industry to recover, qualified prospects must be

brought back to purchase

• Changing media habits of these prospects make it

increasingly difficult or expensive for auto marketers to

reach them

• A new technology is needed to understand how prospects

are using the Internet

• With the new technology, we can identify the importance

of different web sites, and, in particular, blogs




New Research from J.D. Power and Compete offers a clearer view of online activity of buyers and prospects

Vehicle

Purchase

Information

Compete Panel

2 Million Households

Power Information Network

Dealers with 25% of Sales

Surname &

Address

Match

Third party

Internet

Activity

Matched

Database:

~ 203,000

New Vehicle

Buyers

July, 2008 data today

January 2009 data March 3

Monthly thereafter

New Vehicle

Prospects




New Vehicle prospects are on blogs, less than portals, but in the range of other major sites

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

1500

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85%

Reach

Ind

ex

www.google.com

google.com

yahoo.comebay.comamazon.com

classmates.com

everydayhealth.com

columbiahouse.com

eprize.net

servicemagic.com

dubinterviewer.com

upromise.com

msn.com

coupons.com

shermanstravel.com

iwon.com

nutrisystem.com

blogger.com

blogspot.com

msnbc.msn.com

money.aol.com

Source: 2008 OMB - July

MySpace

Craig’sList




There is a big gap between personal blogs and professional blogs, and the OEM blogs are not apparent

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

550

600

0% 3% 6% 9% 12% 15% 18% 21% 24% 27% 30% 33% 36%

Reach

Ind

ex

blogspot.com

blogger.com

wordpress.com

tmz.com

typepad.com

huffingtonpost.com

crave.cnet.com

sixapart.com

vox.com

gadling.com

luxist.com





Visiting blogs varies by vehicle segment, Mid-Size prospects blog the most, except Sporty the least, and only TMZ registers

blogspot.com blogger.com wordpress.com typepad.com tripod.com associatedcontent.com tmz.com

Compact Basic 37% 38% 17% 13% 5% 6% 12%

Compact Conventional 28% 29% 15% 7% 6% 4% 7%

Compact CUV 29% 29% 12% 7% 5% 3% 9%

Compact Premium Conv. 22% 22% 4% 8% 9% 3% 8%

Compact Sporty 32% 32% 9% 8%

Compact Utility 35% 33% 14% 7% 10% 9% 11%

Midsize Conventional 26% 26% 11% 5% 5% 4% 9%

Midsize CUV 32% 31% 11% 5% 2% 5%

Midsize Pickup 37% 40% 18% 8% 4% 7%

Midsize Premium Conv. 38% 41% 13% 8%

Midsize Premium CUV 35% 41% 10% 11% 4% 10% 4%

Midsize Sporty 9% 19% 5% 9% 9%

Midsize Utility 37% 35% 11% 4% 12% 2% 10%

Midsize Van 36% 36% 9% 7% 8% 6% 9%

Large Conventional 17% 23% 4% 4% 4% 13% 11%

Large Pickup 30% 32% 11% 8% 5% 3% 6%

Large Utility 29% 30% 31% 12% 5%





With all that visitation, the main activity is lurking

Blog Activity of New Vehicle Buyers

4.36%

11.05%

12.80%

0.00% 2.00% 4.00% 6.00% 8.00% 10.00% 12.00% 14.00%

Published a blog(s)

Posted comment on blog,

past month

Commented on someone

elses blog or contributed to

an online forum

Source: 2008 OMS - Winter




The time spent varies widely by specific blog

site

Market traffic

(weighted)

minutes

per user

deadspin.com 1,814 82

corner.nationalreview.com 1,338 71

myfamily.com 3,007 54

perezhilton.com 15,443 36

network54.com 1,670 36

dlisted.com 3,249 33

blogthings.com 3,775 32

xanga.com 10,398 30

townhall.com 1,685 27

bloglines.com 2,894 26





Summary Observations

• The Internet is the primary tool for auto shopping

• New Vehicle Prospects are visiting blogs significantly less than portals, but the aggregation of personal blogs reaches about 35%, about the same level as leading social sites and other media brands

• Professional blogs reach less than the aggregated personals, but some have higher composition of New Vehicle Prospects

• Prospects for different vehicle segments visit blogs differently

• High proportion are lurking, not interacting

• Engagement with specific blogs varies widely




Implications

• Auto marketers must find a way to participate in the

blogosphere – their prospects are hanging out there

• The old advertising model of pushing out dominating

messages will not work in this space

• The new approach must be listen, engage, attract




Some thoughts about the future of blogs for automotive marketers

• Look for a blurring of the demarcation between blogs and

social sites

• Twitter may become the way to provide deeper

information for “followers” - but it is only visited by 1% of

New Vehicle Prospects

• Twitter offers a palliative for our ADD culture

– Check out what GM and Toyota are doing on Twitter

– How did GM do on Twitter for the Volt last night?




1. The increasing AND changing role of the

internet among automotive shoppers.

2. It looks like a blog, it sounds like a blog,

and it says it’s a blog…is it a blog?

-Chevy Volt Case Study-

Chance Parker

Gene Cameron




There are blogs and then there are blogs…




Composition of the Blogosphere

79%

21%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Personal Professional

In fact, the vast majority of all blogs are personal blogs, not professional blogs

Source: Technorati “State of the Blogosphere”, Dec 2008




Composition of the Blogosphere

79%

21%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Personal Professional

In addition to blogs, message boards also represent another huge source of conversations

Source: Technorati “State of the Blogosphere”, Dec 2008

Message Boards

Probably

larger than

all blogs put

together




Consumers trust each other more than they trust professionals

Consumer Generated Media Links to Behavior




There is a lot of buzz about the Volt on both blogs and boards

Blogs

34%

Boards

66%

A resource for

information in general

Highly influenced by

professional authors

No Volt owners (yet) More discussion

& opinion sharing

Consumer-driven

Online Chevy Volt Discussions

Over 17,000 Online Discussions




Pros vs. Joes: Important differences in perception

Professional Blogs:

• Very focused on the design of the new Volt

• Very positive about the Volt concept car

• Pretty negative about the production photos

Personal Blogs

• Much more focused on price and day-to-day functionality

• Concerned about the price and the pay-off

– “The Volt's pricing hasn't been announced, but it won't be cheap - probably $35-40k. And the car only

seats 4…so it’s not ideal for young families like mine.”

– “I applaud GM for making the Volt, but like the Prius, I would expect the payoff to be long term.”

• Much more positive about the production photos

– “From what I've seen, the design on the Chevy Volt is being raped by critics. Heck, there was a

headline on yahoo about how much people hate the design. Well, I for one love the design of the Volt.”

– “Personally I love the new design... much better than the concept IMO. If I were to buy a Volt I wouldn't

want some wacky design that shouts GREEN! I want a normal car that has good looks, which is

exactly what they have delivered.”

– Yes, the production Volt looks more pedestrian but I have to say I don't agree an ounce with the writer.

It's not ugly by any stretch. It's blends well with the family of Chevy vehicles, IMO. Hopefully, since it's

not like the Prius it won't be associated as much with the douchenozzlery that surrounds the Prius.”

Professional Blogs

Personal Blogs and Boards




Summary Observations

• Not all blogs are created equal

• Engaging on or with professional blogs is only part of

the challenge

• Personal blogs (and boards) also wield a lot of

influence

• The buzz from the “Pros” doesn’t always equal the

buzz from the “Joes”

• Don’t make the mistake of listening to only the “Pros”

• Don’t try to control the “Joes”




Thank You!

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