Automotive marketing has changed

With the rapid development of the times and the continuous innovation of the automobile industry, the field of automobile marketing has also ushered in unprecedented changes. From one-way communication to two-way interaction, from single sales to comprehensive user management, every innovation is redefining the relationship between brands and users. Let us explore the new chapter of this change together.

I have the impression that I haven’t seen any excellent marketing cases in the automotive industry for a long time. I mean the traditional official marketing cases.

Once upon a time, internationally renowned brands such as BBA dominated the automotive marketing arena with their carefully planned advertising and marketing.

With strong financial resources and mature market strategies, they continue to launch impressive marketing masterpieces.

However, such scenes seem to have become scarce recently.

The last time I remember vividly was the “Xiao Man” advertisement that Audi collaborated with Andy Lau two years ago (which ended up being a failure).

In contrast, the recent automotive marketing scene has been occupied by a new force. Their marketing method is not the kind of official and perfect content that has been finely polished, but a direct interaction that is closer to life and more humane.

From Lei Jun, the "boss" of Xiaomi, interacting with users through live broadcasts, to Zhou Hongyi of 360 selling his Maybach, which attracted a lot of media attention, to the interaction between Li Xiang, Li Bin and Lei Jun at the auto show, these new faces and new methods are redefining the boundaries of automotive marketing. They break the framework of traditional automotive marketing and communicate with consumers in a more direct and interactive way.

I suddenly realized that automobile marketing has changed.

From closed meeting rooms to open live broadcast rooms, from one-way advertising to two-way interactive communication, new marketing methods are driving a shift in the direction of the entire industry.

1. Goodbye TVC, Hello UGC

The golden age of television advertising gave birth to TVC, the king of automotive marketing, which dominated automotive marketing for decades.

Traditional automotive TVC ads often follow a common pattern: a happy family of three or four, career elites driving shiny new cars, enjoying a wonderful beach holiday. This pattern has been criticized by many industry insiders, but with the support of television, a centralized medium, this traditional marketing method was once extremely effective.

However, with the advent of the social media era, the influence of TVC has gradually weakened. Try to recall which TVCs of Tesla, Ideal, Weilai or Xiaomi impressed you the most? It may be difficult to find the answer.

These emerging car brands have hardly adopted the traditional TVC advertising strategy, but have chosen a more modern approach - leveraging UGC.

When I worked at Tesla, one of the clear points of Tesla was that it would never advertise, but that didn’t mean the brand had no advertising. A lot of Tesla’s advertising content was created by its passionate fan base.

For example, Tesla once responded to fans’ suggestions and launched an event called “Love Day”, inviting fans to make their own advertising videos.

This campaign received dozens of high-quality content, whose creativity and professionalism were no less than those of professional advertising agencies.
During those years, I was doing social media marketing for Tesla, and I relied on the content produced by these fans to support me for a long time.

Similarly, almost all of Xiaomi SU7’s powerful marketing did not come from the official. No one remembers SU7’s slogan - "Man and car are one, my heart is excited", but everyone remembers the jokes of Li Bin, Ideal, He Xiaopeng and Wei Jianjun off the stage.

He even made fun of himself. The sentence "Are You OK" which was originally spoken in an accent to criticize Lei Jun was transformed into a friendly and complimentary joke representing himself.

Nowadays, jokes about Xiaomi appearing in the same frame with Porsche and colliding with Zotye are emerging on Weibo one after another, but Xiaomi has not defended its rights.

The influence of these jokes is far greater than the so-called TVC.

2. User Experience and Participatory Marketing

In the traditional car sales model, user experience is often limited to the test drive session at 4S stores, with a straightforward purpose - to promote sales. 4S stores are usually located on the edge of the city, far away from consumers' daily lives, which limits the opportunities and depth of user experience.

Nowadays, stores of new energy brands are named experience stores, and many of them are located in shopping malls. The core of this strategy is to shorten the physical and psychological distance between consumers and make brand contact more frequent and natural.

In these experience stores, consumers’ first point of contact is no longer a direct product test drive, but a more comprehensive brand experience. The design and atmosphere of the store are intended to convey a lifestyle rather than just selling cars.

Now when you go to a new energy experience store, you look first, experience the store’s atmosphere and lifestyle, and then test drive or buy after being infected by the experience, instead of asking you to test drive or buy right away.

Today's new energy vehicles are largely endowed with the dual attributes of durable goods and consumer goods. Users need to make purchasing decisions through frequent contact and experience, and this decision-making process is often faster.

Therefore, compared with the 4S store approach, the new energy experience store approach makes it easier for consumers to place orders.

The rise of participatory marketing not only refers to user-generated content (UGC), but also refers to user participation in every aspect of brand marketing.

A classic example is SpaceX sending Tesla into space. This event itself was a huge news point, which attracted widespread attention and discussion. Consumers spontaneously participated in the discussion from the news release to the execution results, greatly spreading the brand influence.

Xiaomi Auto’s marketing strategy also reflects deep engagement. When Xiaomi announced its entry into the automotive industry, their open discussion and interactive strategy immediately sparked widespread public discussion.

At the technology launch conference, Lei Jun effectively maintained the attention of the media and the public by leaving suspense and triggering public speculation about the price.

In addition, Xiaomi also actively responds to user feedback during the product development and improvement process. For example, Xiaomi not only listened carefully to the suggestion of a physical button for the electric rear wing, but also quickly made product adjustments.

Experiential marketing allows users to gain emotional value beyond the physical attributes of the product, while participatory marketing allows users to become part of the product and brand building process. This marketing method not only improves user loyalty, but also brings more lasting vitality to the brand.

3. D2C, private domain traffic

The marketing strategies of traditional car companies mostly rely on automobile vertical websites to collect potential customer leads and complete sales and services through dealer networks. This B2C model has insurmountable obstacles in obtaining core user data and feedback.

Due to the involvement of dealers, the interaction between car companies and users is always separated by a layer, just like "looking at flowers in the fog and the moon in the water", which undoubtedly limits their potential in deepening user relationships and promoting product innovation.

In contrast, new energy vehicle brands such as Tesla, Xiaomi, and NIO have adopted the D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) model, which establishes direct connections with consumers through the brand, eliminating the traditional dealer level, reducing information distortion, and responding to market demand more quickly.

During the product development stage, the D2C model uses data to drive decision-making to ensure that every function and design is close to the actual needs of users.

For example, although the car-mounted mobile phone holder launched by Xiaomi Auto was once ridiculed by Yu Chengdong, it has received widespread praise from users. Users generally commented that "I can do without it, but you can't", which reflects Xiaomi's accurate grasp of user needs.

In the marketing stage, brands directly drive marketing through UGC content and events, and collect leads through official websites, which greatly reduces marketing costs. In the traditional model, the cost of obtaining a lead is at least 100 yuan, while the D2C model can reduce this cost to almost zero.

Through D2C marketing, brands gradually build their own private traffic pool.

In addition, on social media, the brand conducts full-touchpoint marketing, including Weibo, WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu and other platforms. It obtains data through these channels and conducts in-depth analysis based on its own system data to make marketing activities more accurate and efficient.

Taking Xiaomi Auto as an example, according to the data from Xiaomi Auto Data Center, female car owners account for 40-50%, BBA users account for 51.9%, and Apple users account for 29%. These data provide strong support for Xiaomi Auto's subsequent marketing strategy, helping the brand to more accurately locate the target user group and design marketing activities that meet their needs, thereby improving conversion rates.

4. Intelligent ecological marketing to create user lifetime value

The traditional car sales model often ends the moment the car is delivered to the consumer. However, in the era of smart cars, each sale is just the starting point of a long-term connection between the brand and the user. Intelligence not only means the continuous upgrading of technology, but also represents the continuous iteration of services and the continuous optimization of user experience.

Tesla is a pioneer in this change. Through remote software upgrades, Tesla can add new features to vehicles that have already been sold, such as assisted driving. After the OTA upgrade that year, many users felt the surprise brought by technological progress overnight.

This continuous service and upgrade not only improves user satisfaction, but also deepens user loyalty to the brand.

The ecosystem connection of smart cars means that brands are committed to exploring and satisfying the lifetime value of users. This is no longer a one-time transaction, but a dynamic process of continuously adding services and continuously exploring and satisfying user needs.

Many car companies like to say that selling cars is not profitable, but by tapping into user value over the long term and providing value-added services, they can make profits over the user's lifetime operations.

NIO’s innovation in user operation strategy is particularly worth mentioning. It is the first brand after Tesla to adopt the concept of user operation.

NIO has not only established its own user community, but also launched the "NIO Value" system within the community. This system is designed to record the contribution of each user to the NIO community and reflect the user's growth and value in the NIO community. In this way, NIO has successfully transformed users into loyal supporters and long-term partners of the brand.

NIO Value is not only a reflection of user activity, but also a way for NIO to reward user loyalty. Users can accumulate NIO Value by participating in community activities, providing feedback, recommending new users, etc., and then enjoy more services and rights. This model effectively encourages user participation and contribution, and also brings continuous user activity and brand loyalty to NIO.

5. CEO steps to the fore

In the traditional marketing era, executives of car companies often maintain a high and unapproachable image, and they rarely have the opportunity to communicate directly with users. However, in the current Internet era, this can no longer meet market demand. Users expect the interaction with brands to be more sincere and real, and the personal IP creation of car company CEOs has become the key to achieving this goal.

Musk is perhaps the archetypal example of personal brand marketing by CEOs of automobile companies. He is known as Iron Man and is deeply rooted in people's hearts. On social networks, every tweet by Musk may become the focus of global media attention, and his personal charm has played a huge role in promoting Tesla's marketing effect.

In fact, Tesla can avoid investing traditional marketing resources, thanks in large part to top "free spokespersons" like Musk.

In China, Li Xiang of Li Auto is another CEO who is extremely active on social media.

His style of behavior on Weibo not only deepened the public's understanding of him personally, but also indirectly enhanced the brand image of Ideal Auto.

Li Xiang shares Ideal Auto's latest developments, industry observations, and direct responses to user feedback on Weibo, creating an image of a people-friendly and professional business leader.

Lei Jun is undoubtedly the best CEO marketing expert in China. Since his memorable “Are You OK?” in 2015, Lei Jun has established his brand image of being approachable and sincere.

Through his down-to-earth image and friendly approach, he makes consumers naturally trust what he says.

Lei Jun is tireless in his marketing activities on Weibo and often interacts with ordinary users. Weibo comments may seem simple, but in fact they also reflect the CEO's attitude of valuing users and being willing to have equal dialogue with them.

A charismatic CEO can serve as the best spokesperson for a brand, which not only promotes the improvement of the brand image, but also saves marketing costs for the company and forms a closer emotional bond between the brand and users.

6. More authentic and extensive KOL marketing

KOL marketing has been an important part of brand communication strategy since its inception, and in the current marketing field, its role has become more multidimensional and complex.

As consumers become more discerning about advertising, they are more eager to see authentic and credible KOL marketing content rather than one-way, overly embellished product promotions.

Today's consumers are more inclined to trust car owners who can share their real usage experiences. These real user stories can provide more convincing evidence than "cloud evaluation" through standardized test scripts, showing the actual performance of the product in daily life.

Real feedback, stories and scenarios can greatly improve the effectiveness of KOL marketing because they represent real voices and provide a more reliable reference for potential car buyers.
In addition, as mentioned above, as new energy vehicles are increasingly positioned as consumer goods in the market, they are not only durable goods, but also symbols of personal taste and lifestyle. Therefore, car brands should seek cooperation with KOLs in different fields.

KOLs in the fashion, technology, sports and other industries can bring new user groups to car brands through their unique lifestyles and personal charm. For example, the new energy vehicles driven by fashion bloggers can convey a fashionable and cutting-edge attitude towards life, while technology bloggers can interpret the innovative features of cars from a technical perspective and attract consumers who are interested in technology.

Cross-domain KOL marketing is becoming increasingly important. It is not only a means for brands to "break the circle", but also a bridge to connect different consumer groups and build a new brand image. This marketing method can deepen the brand's influence among diverse consumer groups, break the boundaries between traditional auto brands and users, and create a broader market space.

VII. Conclusion

As the automotive industry continues to evolve, marketing strategies have also undergone tremendous changes.

First, shifting from traditional TVC advertising to real and vivid UGC, automotive marketing increasingly emphasizes interaction with users and the authenticity of content.

Secondly, in terms of user experience, automobile brands have transformed their stores into experience centers and relocated them to crowded city centers. User-centered experiential marketing strategies are gradually becoming mainstream.

Next, the D2C model promoted brands to communicate directly with consumers. The creation of private domain traffic enabled brands to collect user data and feedback more accurately and improve conversion rates.

Then, with the advent of the era of smart cars, we witnessed the transition from one-time sales to lifelong services, which strengthened the exploration of user lifetime value by smart ecological marketing.

As the brand's image spokesperson, the CEO's approachable and sincere image building undoubtedly brings unparalleled personal charm and trust to the brand.

Finally, more authentic and extensive KOL marketing allows opinion leaders from different fields to inject new vitality into automobile brands, and breaking-circle marketing has become a new growth point.

Amid all these changes, we have witnessed the transformation of automotive marketing from one-way communication to two-way interaction, from single sales to comprehensive user management, and from a closed system to an open ecosystem.

The transformation of automobile marketing is not only a change in strategies and methods, but also a redefinition of the relationship between brands and users. In this era, every user has become a part of the brand story, and every interaction constitutes the co-creation of brand value.

Author: Xunkong

Source public account: Xunkong’s Marketing Revelation (ID: 846631)