The Importance of Video in the Automotive Industry

Video in the Automotive Industry - A few Top Tips and pointers to help make your Automotive Video Marketing more successful!

Paul Nigh’s ‘TeamTimeCar.com’ Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine

For those of us who grew up during the pre-internet society, automotive content was actually pretty hard to come by. Besides the printed magazines (remember those!) and various other publications, the only other way to see what was happening in the car industry was through commercials, shows, and rare TV programs. Of course, there were movies, and car manufacturers always understood the power of product placement. That is why today, everybody recognises the white Ferrari from Miami Vice, the DeLorean from Back To The Future and Bond’s Lotus Esprit.

However, the digital revolution changed the world and changed the way car content is created and presented to automotive enthusiasts. All of a sudden, car magazines became obsolete and slow in delivering fresh content to fans, internet forums emerged as go-to places for all your car-related questions and news, and YouTube gave thousands of people the chance to host their own channels – with nothing more than a GoPro camera and some free time.

Today, YouTube and other video-sharing platforms and formats have become amongst the most effective ways to promote car culture and automotive content. Even though these started life as predominantly user-generated content, they soon began to attract the attention of the most prominent car companies, who’s automotive marketing teams understood the power of these channels.

Of course, the role of film within marketing has long been recognised. However, back then TV advertising was the only real format option, and media costs coupled with audience expectations for super slick adverts meant eye watering production and advertising budgets. Remember Honda’s famous ‘When Things Just Work’ (Aka ‘Cog’) commercial? Over $6m – back in 2003!

And Honda weren’t the only ones flexing big budget commercials…

The BMW 12-Minute Movie Series

In the early 2000’s, BMW’s marketing team decided to make a series of short, 12-minutes long movies which would be directed by Hollywood’s best directors and feature some of the top A-list stars at the time. The idea was simple; each film would have a unique storyline, actors, settings, and direction but have one thing in common – the role of a nameless hired driver played by a then-unknown Clive Oven behind the wheel of the BMW.

In total eight movies were released in 2001 and 2002, creating sensation amongst car fans and movie buffs alike. There was never before something so powerful, so cool, and so effective made for promotional purposes. Those movies weren’t commercials. They were proper films, and fans accepted them as such. Featuring stars including Mickey Rourke, Gary Oldman, James Brown and Marylin Manson; one of the most memorable movies, called “Star,” was directed by Guy Ritchie and featured his then-wife, Madonna (although the real star is arguably BMW’s finest M5 the E39).

What Made Them Iconic?

The all-star lineup was just the attention-getter. What really made those movies so iconic was the cinematography, the atmosphere, and the mystique surrounding the silent driver for hire who drives a shiny BMW. Even though the direct focus wasn’t on the cars, because that would be too obvious, they were present in almost every moment and delivered powerful subliminal messaging that spoke to the viewer. You were entertained by the action and the story, but deep down, you really really wanted that BMW. Needless to say, the success was beyond anyone’s expectations. The movies generated 100 million views when most internet users were still on dial-up and years before YouTube became established. Even today, two decades later, those movies still look pretty fresh and exciting, and they helped BMW become the best-selling luxury car brand in the world.

Twenty Years Later

Fast forward twenty years and car enthusiasts now have numerous ways of creating and sharing automotive content in video form. As always, mass-production means that the majority of videos are mediocre, at best. However, for those willing to invest the time, knowledge, and money into creating video content, there has never been a better time to do so.

Here are a few considerations and pointers to help make your video marketing a success:

1. Define your goals

Ideally your video output should be driven by your video content strategy, which in turn should be a part of your broader marketing strategy. If you already have these in place then your overall goals – and the role of video in supporting those goals – should already be clearly defined. Remember – creating video without purpose and distributing it scattergun will simply not work.

2. Know your market and your audience

As with most successful marketing approaches, try to think ‘customer first’ – not ‘product’ or ‘service’ first. More often than not, you should not be trying to ‘sell’ your wares directly, rather you should focus on connecting with and delivering value to your defined audience. Start with your customer firmly in mind and the rest will begin to fall into place.

3. Choose the right channels and format

There is a big difference between the short and long(er) video format. If we know that TikTok has been downloaded more than 2 billion times and that the #automotive has over 590 million views, we can conclude that short form video is increasingly popular, especially with younger users (18 to 24 years of age). However, although immensely popular, those short 60-second videos, as entertaining as they might be, can sometimes lack the depth and value of higher production forms of video content.

Whilst stories, reels or TikTok’s might be the perfect way to quickly and cost effectively reach a million viewers, they might not be the best way of delivering a highly targeted and comprehensive quality communication. Likewise you might want to get into depth on a topic, establish yourself as an expert in the field, and offer as much information value as possible. In that case, you will need a longer format which will require investing more time and effort in video content creation.

As mentioned above, knowing who your audience is will help you determine what marketing messages they are looking for and where you can reach them, which in turn will help determine video type and format.

4. Get Creative

A common thread in both strategic and tactical marketing and branding is the need to differentiate. In terms of video, differentiation will help you stand out in increasingly crowded media spaces, and also allow you to better connect with your audience. A little creative thinking will ensure that your video content gets noticed – and gets remembered.

How Can WDA Help?

Video can play an important role in marketing at every stage of the sales funnel, from initial (to ongoing) brand awareness, to generating interest; right through to building desire and action – which often means converting your prospect into a paying customer. The tangible value video can deliver to your bottom line is backed up by the stats. According to research, over 64% of customers decided to purchase something after seeing a video about it on social media, whilst using video on a shop landing page can increase conversion rates by up to 80%.

Shooting only for our automotive clientele has several distinct advantages. For one, we generally know what it is we are looking at – which elements are important and which details we need to capture. We are also very aware of market trends and competitor content – important in making our clients videos stand out in a very crowded marketplace. Being connected to the industry we are also able to source cars and associated products and props, access exclusive automotive locations and approach influencer contacts. For studio projects our automotive studio cove features a 360 degree remotely operated turntable big enough for limo sized vehicles. We also have a licensed drone.

Types of video we can help your brand create include: