In recent years, the automotive industry has seen a shift in the research and shopping behavior of in-market customers. They research cars across more channels than any other product and do 55% of their shopping online. They now visit an average of 1.6 dealerships (compared to 5 in 2005) before making a purchase, highlighting the importance of the first dealer visit. Over half of luxury shoppers use their mobile devices during the shopping process, making it clear that new media is impacting the purchase decisions.

With these industry trends in mind, we honed in on Cadillac’s most valuable consumer – the ‘Next Generation Luxe’ audience. They are well versed in media, confidently navigating across channels and consuming content on their own terms. A mobile-first, social-focused approach with timely and relevant messaging is imperative. Stale creative and automotive clichés will not convert this audience.

In order to tackle these industry and channel challenges, Dentsu Aegis partnered with Facebook to be first-to-market in the automotive industry with Store Visits ads. The ads are set up to serve to consumers when within a pre-determined radius of a local dealership. The ad dynamically populates the name and location of the dealership, with a directions button to load Maps within the Facebook app.

The Facebook platform then monitors the audience through their mobile device, using strict mapping of the dealership boundaries, to determine if the user visits a dealership post-impression. This Store Visits metric is a first of its kind in social media and provides unique targeting and tracking parameters, while still providing the user full control over opt-in.

The campaign was executed over a three-week period in May and supported 886 Cadillac dealerships in the United States and the USVI. The mobile-only, location-based targeting ads were launched quickly across this vast array of dealers due to the dynamic nature of the ads. The ability to scale quickly in support of a nation-wide network of dealers gave Cadillac’s dealers unique support from its brand HQ.

Over 7.7M unique people were reached with Cadillac Dealer Visits campaign. Dealer visit conversions were tracked across four different attribution methods. 392,106 shoppers converted within 7 days of exposure, 7,434 shoppers converted within 7 days of engaging, and 1,282 shoppers converted within 24 hours of engaging. Most interesting, though, were the 84,096 shoppers who converted after an “Attention” impression.

Attention measures a user’s time viewing a Facebook ad benchmarked against their individual content viewing history on Facebook – sponsored and organic content alike. By benchmarking a user against himself/herself across all content, the effectiveness of the ad messaging and targeting is more readily attributable. In brand polling studies, “Attention” is correlated directly with Ad Recall, so these users can be considered engaged and intentional in their dealer visit.

Cadillac is excited for Store Visits ads to continue driving people into our dealerships where they will make their next car a Cadillac.

Up until recently, the method for social media auto advertising has also been very formulaic, but is now undergoing a change of its own. There is a push towards immersive ad units and dynamic content. Facebook has long been a first-mover in opportunities to change the landscape of Social Media Advertising, and the partnership between Dentsu Aegis and Facebook provides Cadillac first-to-market opportunities.

Targeting shoppers with local messaging gives the personalized feel that luxury consumers have come to expect from all of their purchases. Making directions to the dealership accessible with just the touch of a button provides the convenience that the hard-working, upwardly-mobile professional is looking for. Pulling this altogether on the Facebook platform allowed us to combine these strategies in the palm of the hand of our tech-savvy, mobile-focused audience.

The major challenge that Cadillac faces is to support local markets in a way that moves a consumer from upper-funnel awareness to closing a sale at a dealership. In recent years the trend is for auto consumers to spend more time shopping online, amounting to less than two dealership visits per sale. Delivering shoppers to our dealers early, efficiently, and in a personalized way will help us get ahead of our competition.

The Facebook Store Visits Alpha allowed us to target auto shoppers through the mobile Facebook app when they came within a designated radius of a dealership. At that time the user would be served a dynamically-populated ad with the local dealer’s name and location, offering directions to the dealer. Our goal was to measure how effectively we can convert these online shoppers into dealership visits.