Ads Score Big With Car Shoppers During Super Bowl XLVII

ATLANTA, Feb. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Alpacas, a genie, a farmer and babies flying in from space were just a few of the characters auto manufacturers used to try and grab consumer's attention during Super Bowl® XLVII. And judging by the activity on AutoTrader.com, the Internet's ultimate automotive marketplace, they resonated with car shoppers.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130204/CL53418-INFO-a)(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130204/CL53418-INFO-b)

On average, vehicles that were advertised during the game saw a 245% increase in search activity on AutoTrader.com during the hour after their ads ran. The Hyundai Santa Fe saw the greatest increase in search activity, with a lift of 1,004%. The Kia Forte saw the second highest increase at 750%, while the Kia Sorento came in third at 521%.

"Hyundai really benefitted from their sponsorship and ad buys during the pre-game," said Rick Wainschel, AutoTrader.com's vice president of automotive insights. "While this percentage lift is attributed to the 'Team' spot, there's no question that the 'Epic Playdate' spot and their pre-game branding elements also helped catch shopper's attention."

Automakers who chose to use their ad time to promote their overall brand or a product that's not yet available to consumers saw on average a 79% increase in search activity. The social-media generated "#SteerTheScript" spot from Lincoln made shoppers curious enough about the brand to cause a 242% lift in search activity the hour after it ran. The Mercedes-Benz "Soul" commercial for the not-yet-available CLA gave a boost to current models, with a 75% boost in search activity. Jeep saw a 61% increase in search activity following its "Coming Home" ad, while RAM saw a boost of 55% after the popular "Farmer" ad.

"While it does take a significant amount of traffic to show measurable lift at the model level, it's even harder to do at the make level, particularly for high-volume brands like RAM," said Wainschel. "While Lincoln's tactic of leveraging social media to guide content definitely worked in their favor, I think all four of these spots were highly effective."

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