Mercedes-Benz raises brand lift with Connected TV
In Australia, one of the world’s most competitive and fragmented automotive markets, luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz found success in a programmatic strategy on The Trade Desk.
STAYING TOP OF MIND IN A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE MARKET
Australia has one of the world’s most competitive and fragmented automotive markets, with consumers enjoying a choice of more than 50 brands.1 Even for a revered luxury auto brand like Mercedes-Benz, it’s a constant battle to remain top of mind among new luxury auto buyers.
Mercedes-Benz Australia recently wanted to lift brand awareness for the new launch of one of its signature models, the C-Class. The auto giant’s media agency, Team X, set out to achieve that with a broadcast video on demand (BVOD) advertising campaign that would reach consumers watching their favourite broadcast-quality TV shows online through connected devices such as mobile phones, laptops, and smart TVs.
As a global Mercedes-Benz partner, The Trade Desk was the natural choice to provide the programmatic platform for this campaign. Three BVOD channels were selected for the new model’s Australian launch – 7plus, 9Now, and Optus – with the campaign targeting luxury auto buyers aged over 25 years.
INTEGRATING A BRAND LIFT STUDY TO MEASURE SUCCESS
While programmatic platforms provide detailed campaign metrics, measuring real-world brand awareness requires additional research. The Trade Desk team understood this necessity and turned to InMobi Pulse, the eponymous mobile marketing platform’s consumer insight tool, to launch a brand lift study (BLS). It was the first BLS for a BVOD campaign conducted through InMobi Pulse in the Australia and New Zealand region. This was only made possible with The Trade Desk’s cross-device graph – a solution that unifies the identities of people and households across different devices, aiming to maximise the accuracy and scale of omnichannel and Connected TV campaigns.
The InMobi Pulse BLS integration was activated through The Trade Desk’s platform, delivering mobile surveys on the fly to consumers. This integration enabled Mercedes-Benz to accurately measure the BVOD campaign’s success in increasing brand awareness.
“The combined InMobi Pulse and The Trade Desk solution has helped us seamlessly activate and measure the brand lift for our BVOD campaigns. Proving the value of BVOD campaigns for our brand hasn’t historically been something that we have been able to do, and this has helped us make more informed decisions about our advertising investments.”
EMILY DAVIS
Head of Brand and Content
Mercedes-Benz Australia
DELIVERING RESULTS AND AUDIENCE INSIGHTS
The campaign was an outstanding success, reaching more than 1.5 million unique Australian households.
Importantly, the BLS results showed that the BVOD campaign directly contributed to a 5 per cent increase in Mercedes-Benz brand awareness. This includes an awareness lift of more than 11 per cent in a key demographic segment for the luxury auto market: consumers aged between 45 and 54 years.
The study also provided Mercedes-Benz with better insights into its target audience’s age and gender, their awareness and usage of luxury auto brands, and their future purchase intent.
Mercedes-Benz now has the confidence and ability to better leverage future Connected TV campaigns to help maintain its brand leadership.
1 Alex Jeffs, “Car Manufacturers in Australia,” Finder, https://www.finder.com.au/car-manufacturers-australia.