Auto Dealer is growing its advertising and marketing funding by 23% year-on-year in Q1 subsequent 12 months as a part of a push to succeed in extra UK adults, a youthful demographic and feminine audiences.

The funding will see the automotive platform double down on advertising and marketing spend throughout above-the line and digital media exercise between December 2023 and March 2024, with the core goal of constructing additional belief and “model saliency” amongst automobile consumers.

The brand new part of the advertising and marketing marketing campaign will see Auto Dealer seen in excessive profile audio visible spots from Boxing Day and into 2024, akin to The Voice and Ant & Dec’s Limitless Win, together with on-going Channel 4 partnership idents throughout common reveals together with The Nice British Bake Off and Gogglebox and International radio activations.

Coupled with excessive digital environments akin to TikTok, Snapchat and Twitch, Auto Dealer predicts it should attain 84% of all UK adults, which it says will additional strengthening the model place because the market chief within the on-line classifieds house.

Different exercise subsequent quarter will embrace advertising and marketing spend being put behind elevated content material visibility of editorial and useful recommendation for shoppers trying to decide on an electrical automobile. A partnership with The Guardian and different key media companions will see Auto Dealer’s content material and month-to-month Electrical Automotive Giveaway all being utilised and promoted to present and new audiences by way of digital, associates exercise and radio promoting. 

Expanded editorial staff and way of life content material

Auto Dealer’s largest advertising and marketing spend to this point coincides with the latest appointment of Catherine King (pictured left) who joins the editorial staff alongside Auto Dealer’s editorial director and automotive journalist, Erin Baker, to  improve the pipeline of ladies in automotive journalism.

King joined Auto Dealer in 2018 as an information analyst in a job that noticed her rework knowledge into actionable insights for retailers, in addition to current the newest market updates on Auto Dealer Insights’ bi-weekly webinars.

King’s new position follows the launch of Auto Dealer’s No Driver Left Behind Marketing campaign in Might this 12 months which targeted on what number of ladies within the UK are being left behind by the automotive business.  

The analysis reported that whereas ladies have been much less prone to be very educated about vehicles, and particularly electrical vehicles, ladies are occupied with studying extra about them.

Importantly they wish to devour content material that’s extra way of life targeted and in media they already devour. King will work with Baker to broaden the model’s way of life targeted content material each by itself web site and on associate websites. 

King’s appointment as Auto Dealer’s second feminine motoring journalist follows on from Auto Dealer’s dedication to make extra content material out there to a wider demographic within the UK together with feminine audiences.

Along with this, King’s position will assist slim the gender hole within the automotive house with the corporate already having a Girls’s Community and an ongoing partnership with Cardiff College to interact with feminine media college students.  

Camilla Ellerton, advertising and marketing director at Auto Dealer, stated: “This 12 months’s spend is our largest client advertising and marketing funding ever within the historical past of our enterprise, and with us trying to interact new audiences by way of varied media channels, coupled with the strengthening of our editorial staff, this may make simple to digest way of life automotive content material extra accessible for shoppers.

“Not solely this however the funding will proceed to assist hundreds of thousands throughout the UK discover their subsequent automobile and additional underlines our dedication in driving change collectively, responsibly.”

Auto Dealer reported a pre-tax revenue efficiency drop of two% to £293.6 million for its full 12 months outcomes earlier this 12 months, however posted a rise in revenues and working revenue efficiency within the core enterprise.

Income within the core Auto Dealer enterprise elevated by 9% to £473m.