Insights

Everything is Digital Media.

Matt Simonetti, President, Intermark Automotive A question I still get asked frequently (yes, really):What % of my budget should be “#digital”? 🙋‍♂️Easy answer: 100%. HOWEVER…that does not mean 100% to Google and/or Facebook. WHY? EVERYTHING is already digital. 👉TV? Digital.👉Radio? Digital.👉Cable? Digital.👉Mail? YEP. Digital.👉Search? Digital.👉Social? Digital.👉Programmatic? Digital.👉Metaverse? Obviously digital. 👉Billboards…? Half of them are DIGITAL. BUT…don’t...

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You Have Too Many Vendors.

Matt Simonetti, President, Intermark Automotive SELL MORE CARS. INCREASE PROFITS. GROW MARKET SHARE.SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE. MAXIMIZE EFFICIENCY. Do you have 20 line items on your ad budget? You just might just be doing 20 things poorly instead of a few things really well. So admit it…you have too many vendors. There’s a reason Google, Apple,...

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Ford Is Alienating Their Only Competitive Advantage: The Dealer Base.

By Matt Simonetti, President Intermark Automotive According to Jim Farley, Ford Chief Executive, Ford will sell EV’s 100% online, direct to the consumer, cutting out the dealership and salesperson. Yes he is related to Chris Farley. No this is not an SNL skit. This is quite the divisive topic. Go ahead, just read some of...

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Traditional Advertising is Alive and Well

“Digital marketing is the future.” Whoever the first person was to make that statement wasn’t wrong. The first clickable ad went live in 1994. At that moment, the world of marketing as we knew it forever changed. From Yahoo and MySpace to Google and Facebook, the digital age exploded and hasn’t looked back. Perhaps one...

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Media Inflation Means Brands Must Step Up Their Creativity

Food…energy…gasoline…housing…used cars…inflation has been spiking at an alarming rate across all consumer segments. Unfortunately, marketers can expect ad prices to go up this year too. So, how will media inflation affect your marketing? According to a study by ECI Media Management featured in an article on MediaPost, digital ad prices in North America are expected...

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Carvana’s Q1 Net Loss of $504m

$500m Q1 net loss amid massive dealer profit years… $327 stock price down to $65… Carvana never turned a profit… Carvana has no proprietary tech… Carvana created no unique value proposition… Lack of customer service and post-sale follow up… Limited human element to experience… Customer complaints expanding… Just relentless anti-dealer advertising… It actually speaks to...

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Brand Awareness is More Important Than Ever

The COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. Literally. When you think about how you do things now – work, shop, eat, socialize, raise your kids, travel – is there any aspect of your life that hasn’t changed since early 2020? We saw sweeping changes occur in marketing as well. Due to the uncertainty of the economy and...

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Patience is a Virtue in Marketing

We’ve all heard many times throughout our lives that patience is a virtue. Although the proverb is often recited, it’s rarely adhered to. Humans are impatient by nature and with more things readily available for immediate consumption, that impatience only seems to be growing. As discussed in the What You See Is NOT All There...

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Super Bowl Ads. The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.

OK, let’s talk about the Super Bowl Ads. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Two years after the start of the pandemic, it was no surprise that brands came back full force this year with big production budgets, celebrity cameos, music licensing, cross promotion, QR codes (ugh) and TONS of nostalgic references, quite possibly...

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So what do car buyers really want?

Dealer News Flash: car buyers still want DEALS. Some may want free delivery, online car buying, or concierge experiences, but all of them want to feel like they got a DEAL. BUT…a DEAL doesn’t necessarily need to be price related – it can be as simple as the perception of value or savings in your...

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