© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The Impact of Blogs on the Automotive Shopping Process
Gene Cameron
Vice President, Marketing/Media Solutions
Chance Parker
Vice President, Web Intelligence
February 12, 2009
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.2
1. The increasing AND changing role of the
internet among automotive shoppers.
2. It looks like a blog, it sounds like a blog,
and it says it’s a blog…is it a blog?
-Chevy Volt Case Study-
Chance Parker
Gene Cameron
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.3
The winds of change are blowing
• Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger told
analysts Tuesday that some of the entertainment empire's
businesses, like its broadcast television network, are
feeling "signs of secular change as competition for
people's time is increasing and the abundance of choice is
allowing consumers to be more selective."
WSJ, 2/10/09
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.4
62%
64% 64%67% 67%
70%
75%
26%
34%
43%
47% 47%
54% 53%
59%61%
40%
54%
60% 60%
20%
40%
60%
80%
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Used New
Based to new and used-vehicle buyers
Source: J.D. Power and Associates 1999-2008 New/Used Vehicle Studies
Automotive Internet Usage Trends Used – Vs.
New – Vehicle Buyers 10-Year Trend
The New Vehicle Buyer has made the Internet their primary shopping medium
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.5
Why this matters to the Auto Industry
• For the industry to recover, qualified prospects must be
brought back to purchase
• Changing media habits of these prospects make it
increasingly difficult or expensive for auto marketers to
reach them
• A new technology is needed to understand how prospects
are using the Internet
• With the new technology, we can identify the importance
of different web sites, and, in particular, blogs
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.6
New Research from J.D. Power and Compete offers a clearer view of online activity of buyers and prospects
Vehicle
Purchase
Information
Compete Panel
2 Million Households
Power Information Network
Dealers with 25% of Sales
Surname &
Address
Match
Third party
Internet
Activity
Matched
Database:
~ 203,000
New Vehicle
Buyers
July, 2008 data today
January 2009 data March 3
Monthly thereafter
New Vehicle
Prospects
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.7
New Vehicle prospects are on blogs, less than portals, but in the range of other major sites
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85%
Reach
Ind
ex
www.google.com
google.com
yahoo.comebay.comamazon.com
classmates.com
everydayhealth.com
columbiahouse.com
eprize.net
servicemagic.com
dubinterviewer.com
upromise.com
msn.com
coupons.com
shermanstravel.com
iwon.com
nutrisystem.com
blogger.com
blogspot.com
msnbc.msn.com
money.aol.com
Source: 2008 OMB - July
MySpace
Craig’sList
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.8
There is a big gap between personal blogs and professional blogs, and the OEM blogs are not apparent
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
0% 3% 6% 9% 12% 15% 18% 21% 24% 27% 30% 33% 36%
Reach
Ind
ex
blogspot.com
blogger.com
wordpress.com
tmz.com
typepad.com
huffingtonpost.com
crave.cnet.com
sixapart.com
vox.com
gadling.com
luxist.com
Source: 2008 OMB - July
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.9
Visiting blogs varies by vehicle segment, Mid-Size prospects blog the most, except Sporty the least, and only TMZ registers
blogspot.com blogger.com wordpress.com typepad.com tripod.com associatedcontent.com tmz.com
Compact Basic 37% 38% 17% 13% 5% 6% 12%
Compact Conventional 28% 29% 15% 7% 6% 4% 7%
Compact CUV 29% 29% 12% 7% 5% 3% 9%
Compact Premium Conv. 22% 22% 4% 8% 9% 3% 8%
Compact Sporty 32% 32% 9% 8%
Compact Utility 35% 33% 14% 7% 10% 9% 11%
Midsize Conventional 26% 26% 11% 5% 5% 4% 9%
Midsize CUV 32% 31% 11% 5% 2% 5%
Midsize Pickup 37% 40% 18% 8% 4% 7%
Midsize Premium Conv. 38% 41% 13% 8%
Midsize Premium CUV 35% 41% 10% 11% 4% 10% 4%
Midsize Sporty 9% 19% 5% 9% 9%
Midsize Utility 37% 35% 11% 4% 12% 2% 10%
Midsize Van 36% 36% 9% 7% 8% 6% 9%
Large Conventional 17% 23% 4% 4% 4% 13% 11%
Large Pickup 30% 32% 11% 8% 5% 3% 6%
Large Utility 29% 30% 31% 12% 5%
Source: 2008 OMB - July
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.10
With all that visitation, the main activity is lurking
Blog Activity of New Vehicle Buyers
4.36%
11.05%
12.80%
0.00% 2.00% 4.00% 6.00% 8.00% 10.00% 12.00% 14.00%
Published a blog(s)
Posted comment on blog,
past month
Commented on someone
elses blog or contributed to
an online forum
Source: 2008 OMS - Winter
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.11
The time spent varies widely by specific blog
site
Market traffic
(weighted)
minutes
per user
deadspin.com 1,814 82
corner.nationalreview.com 1,338 71
myfamily.com 3,007 54
perezhilton.com 15,443 36
network54.com 1,670 36
dlisted.com 3,249 33
blogthings.com 3,775 32
xanga.com 10,398 30
townhall.com 1,685 27
bloglines.com 2,894 26
Source: 2008 OMB - July
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.12
Summary Observations
• The Internet is the primary tool for auto shopping
• New Vehicle Prospects are visiting blogs significantly less than portals, but the aggregation of personal blogs reaches about 35%, about the same level as leading social sites and other media brands
• Professional blogs reach less than the aggregated personals, but some have higher composition of New Vehicle Prospects
• Prospects for different vehicle segments visit blogs differently
• High proportion are lurking, not interacting
• Engagement with specific blogs varies widely
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.13
Implications
• Auto marketers must find a way to participate in the
blogosphere – their prospects are hanging out there
• The old advertising model of pushing out dominating
messages will not work in this space
• The new approach must be listen, engage, attract
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.14
Some thoughts about the future of blogs for automotive marketers
• Look for a blurring of the demarcation between blogs and
social sites
• Twitter may become the way to provide deeper
information for “followers” - but it is only visited by 1% of
New Vehicle Prospects
• Twitter offers a palliative for our ADD culture
– Check out what GM and Toyota are doing on Twitter
– How did GM do on Twitter for the Volt last night?
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.15
1. The increasing AND changing role of the
internet among automotive shoppers.
2. It looks like a blog, it sounds like a blog,
and it says it’s a blog…is it a blog?
-Chevy Volt Case Study-
Chance Parker
Gene Cameron
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.16
There are blogs and then there are blogs…
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.17
Composition of the Blogosphere
79%
21%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Personal Professional
In fact, the vast majority of all blogs are personal blogs, not professional blogs
Source: Technorati “State of the Blogosphere”, Dec 2008
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.18
Composition of the Blogosphere
79%
21%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Personal Professional
In addition to blogs, message boards also represent another huge source of conversations
Source: Technorati “State of the Blogosphere”, Dec 2008
Message Boards
Probably
larger than
all blogs put
together
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.19
Consumers trust each other more than they trust professionals
Consumer Generated Media Links to Behavior
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.20
There is a lot of buzz about the Volt on both blogs and boards
Blogs
34%
Boards
66%
A resource for
information in general
Highly influenced by
professional authors
No Volt owners (yet) More discussion
& opinion sharing
Consumer-driven
Online Chevy Volt Discussions
Over 17,000 Online Discussions
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.21
Pros vs. Joes: Important differences in perception
Professional Blogs:
• Very focused on the design of the new Volt
• Very positive about the Volt concept car
• Pretty negative about the production photos
Personal Blogs
• Much more focused on price and day-to-day functionality
• Concerned about the price and the pay-off
– “The Volt's pricing hasn't been announced, but it won't be cheap - probably $35-40k. And the car only
seats 4…so it’s not ideal for young families like mine.”
– “I applaud GM for making the Volt, but like the Prius, I would expect the payoff to be long term.”
• Much more positive about the production photos
– “From what I've seen, the design on the Chevy Volt is being raped by critics. Heck, there was a
headline on yahoo about how much people hate the design. Well, I for one love the design of the Volt.”
– “Personally I love the new design... much better than the concept IMO. If I were to buy a Volt I wouldn't
want some wacky design that shouts GREEN! I want a normal car that has good looks, which is
exactly what they have delivered.”
– Yes, the production Volt looks more pedestrian but I have to say I don't agree an ounce with the writer.
It's not ugly by any stretch. It's blends well with the family of Chevy vehicles, IMO. Hopefully, since it's
not like the Prius it won't be associated as much with the douchenozzlery that surrounds the Prius.”
Professional Blogs
Personal Blogs and Boards
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.22
Summary Observations
• Not all blogs are created equal
• Engaging on or with professional blogs is only part of
the challenge
• Personal blogs (and boards) also wield a lot of
influence
• The buzz from the “Pros” doesn’t always equal the
buzz from the “Joes”
• Don’t make the mistake of listening to only the “Pros”
• Don’t try to control the “Joes”
© 2008 J.D. Power and Associates,
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.23
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