Clutter is bad enough in closets, but it could be downright destructive for automobile marketers who are buying ads on local television stations, where car spots tend to stack up in the last two weeks of the month, according to a top Toyota sales executive.
“Is this the best way to deliver our message and stand out?” Steve Sturm, vice president of North America planning for Toyota Motor Sales, asked the 1,000 or so attendees of the March 31 Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) annual conference at New York’s Jacob Javits Center. The TVB represents local stations, especially in the ad community.
Sturm was disturbed over one New York station’s need to air 10 car ads within an 18-spot span in February, largely because 80% of automobile spots generally run in the latter half of the month. (He did not address why car companies prefer to advertise at the end of the month.) Advertisers would rather have category exclusivity within each commercial “pod” on television, but Sturm noted that some competing commercials are even running adjacent to each other at times due to the clutter.
Local stations’ reliance on car makers is so apparent that the TVB always runs its conference in the hall next to the Auto Show at the convention center. But Sturm warned that auto dealers and manufacturers may pare back their local advertising if the clutter problem is not resolved. He urged stations to become more creative in their marketing efforts by incorporating products into the shows themselves and to stop relying so much on the 15- and 30-second spots for their business. For example, Toyota had used the syndicated series “Blind Date” and the NBC reality show “The Contender” to promote its products. In “Blind Date,” the usually hapless couples tool around in Toyotas; in the fourth episode of “The Contender,” contestants had to push a 5,000-lb. Tundra pickup truck.
