Self-Driving Cars Will Require a Whole New Marketing Language

The first big change will be in auto salesamp160 Autonomy only really works if the cars are shared as taxis are todayamp160 Since today39s vehicles sit idly for 95 percent of the day we could vastly decrease the size of our current automotive fleet by keeping them on the road providing ridesamp160 Among the many benefits is a greatly reduced need for parking particularly in urban centersamp160 City planners are already thinking of the parks and public spaces that could replace garages and lotsIf selfdriving cars are privately owned we actually make the problem of auto overpopulation worse because autonomy means nondriving seniors and kids too young to get behind the wheel will suddenly be on the roadamp160 The trend does seem to be toward ride sharing which is why Ford and Toyota are talking about becoming mobility companiesamp160 But there are no guaranteesWithout private ownership automakers would build cars for fleets they would either sell to or own themselvesamp160 At that point auto branding becomes tenuousamp160amp160Bob Lutz former Vice Chairman of General Motors saysamp160 quot Right now we39re enjoying the autonomous features increasingly prevalent in conventional carsamp160 But when we really get to the point where we have individually programmable but standardized transportation modules moving on the freeway with a whole snake of vehicles at 150 mph brands will no longer matteramp160 What is the reason for being in a BMW module or a Mercedes moduleamp160 Especially since you get a different one every time you dial it up on your device For automakers that39s the scary partquotNo branding no auto ads selling the excitement and youth appeal of driving the new carsamp160 Without a sales incentive styling could start to homogenize and center on practicalityamp160 It39s a podamp160 Do we notice what make of taxi we39re riding inThat39s the bad newsamp160 The good news according to Jessica HawthorneCastro CEO of Los Angelesbased ad agencyamp160Hawthorne is that with the driver freed up from driving the car39s interior will become a brandnew playandwork spaceamp160 This was already evident at this year39s CES where several companies showed auto interiors with swiveling seats tables and windows that doubled as entertainment and news screensamp160 It will be a newly empowered ad environmentA short story by T Coraghessan Boyle quotAsleep at the Wheelquot in the February 11 New Yorker imagines just such a scenarioamp160 The selfdriving car using natural speech technology tells its passenger that it will take her to her destination but they could make a detour to a store that39s having a 30 percent off saleamp160 quotThat cute crossbody bag in fuchsia you had your eye on last week they have two left in stockquot the car saysAmerican drivers were on the road for more than 84 billion hours in 2015 so that39s a lot of downtime that39s going to be freed upamp160 HawthorneCastro wrote in a Forbes essayamp160 quotCrosschannel advertising opportunities in this fully immersive environment could combine the offline mediums where commercial ads would sponsor your video content or streaming TV series an outdoorbillboard type of environment where a product placement or still ad billboard could pop up before any article or organically flash across your screen as you geolocate near a particular store or brand and radio spots could be microtargeted for your demographic and sponsor podcasts and music channelsamp160 And of course there would be digital banners and payperclick targeting on your computer and mobile devicesquotPeople are of course used to receiving lots of advertising on their car radios that39s nothing newamp160 But they39ve been hearing the ads while they39re engaged in the very involving art of driving a caramp160 Passengers in selfdriving cars will be more like consumers relaxing at home more consciously focused on the messages they39re getting and also engaging with the visual elementamp160 It39s going to be a muchsoughtafter market and it39s going to need intelligent planning so that it doesn39t become a big turnoffamp160 After all people will be able to just turn it all off and read a bookAccording to Tech Crunch quotIt39s not about spamming a captive audience with ads for products or servicesamp160 Instead it39s about enhancing their invehicle experiencequotamp160 The website echoing HawthorneCastro said that that the messages delivered to selfdriving cars could be targeted by location personalized by user preference and happening in real timeAs Boyle envisioned that could mean directing a traveler to a shoe sale or if the destination was an amusement park providing information on special events and reducedcost tickets thereamp160 The same solicitations work perfectly for sports events and reducedprice reserved parking which also reduces wait times could be one of the luresAppealing to consumers in selfdriving cars is going to require a whole new language and marketers will need to learn it quickly and wellamp160 The timetableamp160 Well that39s the hard part nobody knows yetPhoto credit Jim MotavalliClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Self-Driving Cars Will Require a Whole New Marketing Language

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Jim Motavalli

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Self-Driving Cars Will Require a Whole New Marketing Language

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Jim Motavalli

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