excerpt from “Google’s View of autos for 2008.” imediaconnection. 2/21/08. An interview with Bonita Stewart, Google’s director of “automotive vertical.”
“…dealers have the opportunity to geographically target their products and services, and mobile technology offers the ability to connect with a dealer during the shopping process…Right now we are particularly keen on the benefits of online video. It’s the new portable TV and offers the sight, sound and motion automotive marketers crave to differentiate their product and to evoke consumer emotion. In November 2007, U.S. consumers viewed more than 225 million auto/vehicle videos on YouTube…Google’s resources and expertise make YouTube’s search experience the best it can possibly be…We will continue to make search and discovery of videos a priority in 2008…Don’t build it and wait for consumers to come to your site. Venture out, find them and communicate with them online through gadgets that provide dealer locators, photo/video galleries, build and price features directly to the consumers in a microsite format…don’t ignore the data. Today it’s more compelling than ever to follow the consumer and lead from behind. Consumer engagement is increasing and driving their behavior as witnessed by the growth in social networking, video, mobile and search. On the horizon I see integrated marketing moving to integrated accountability and ROI. Marketers will develop more cause and effect levers.”
