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Automotive Advertising Award Finalists for 2006 Announced



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By Marty Bernstein
Marketing – Advertising Editor
The Auto Channel

It’s finally happened. Just as automotive advertisers are taking monies from tra-ditional television advertising budgets – both broadcast and cable -- and re-placing it with alternative mediums, an award for automotive television adver-tising is announced.

IAG Research, a respected ad effectiveness TV ratings company, just announced the finalists for the first IAG Automotive Advertising Awards. The awards will be handed out on April 4 at the opening breakfast of the New York International Auto Show.

The awards are based on viewer response data collected by the company of advertising seen on more than 20 measured networks. The finalists and award categories are listed below:

Most Effective Overall Automotive Ad: Non-luxury

Ford Escape Hybrid: Kermit the Frog talks about being "green"

Volkswagen Passat: Women in the sedan are run into by another car

Most Effective Overall Automotive Ad: Luxury

Lincoln Navigator: Basketball star Dwayne Wade helps build an inner city court

Lexus LS 460: Demonstration of the sedan's no-hands parallel parking option

Hummer H3: A man turns the SUV into a submarine

Most Liked Automotive Ad: Luxury or Non-luxury

Honda Pilot: A troll stops a family in the SUV

Jeep Wrangler: A lizard stares down the SUV

Nissan Sentra

Lexus LS

VW Passat Wagon

Most Effective TV Launch Campaign for a New Auto Nameplate

Dodge Nitro

Nissan Versa

Toyota Yaris

While this gesture of enthusiasm, encouragement and entitlement will be appreciated by many, especially those who are announced as winners, the fact remains TV, news magazines and auto buff-books have lost their importance as the primary beneficiaries of auto ad dollars. Recent headline confirm this fact. Certainly TV budgets are still huge, but once they were gigantic and critical in the media mix. But the times they are a changing.

IAG Research is an important source of information and data for many major advertisers in a diverse range of industries … including of course some in the automotive ad business.

And while auto ad budgets have been cut by many, primarily the Detroit 3, other brands have and are taking up the slack continuing this category’s rank as #1. Auto advertising is still spends more in media than any other category.

Media dollars, especially television spending, is a fungible commodity not one in a panoply. What would your nominees be? Drop me a line.

Marty Bernstein [mbcarwriter@sbcglobal.net]