Telematics in New Cars
Ads Will Help Pay for Sophisticated GPS Devices in Future Autos
Fast-growing telematics and GPS technologies will give motorists quick and easy access to all kinds of information in their new cars. Advertising will help make the fancy devices affordable to millions of auto buyers.
The auto-based wireless technology will also provide amazing new advertising vehicles for restaurants, gasoline stations, service shops and other companies trying to reach motorists while they’re on the road. That means marketers will be confronted with even more ad budget fragmentation in the future and they will have to make more ad media decisions.
Marketing researchers have found that young people are most interested in the new auto communications technology, but that they are also the least able, or willing, to afford the current prices of such gadgetry. As Sarah Webster reported in the Detroit Free Press (June 5, 2008), General Motors is selling its OnStar subscription for $18.95 a month. Ford is selling its Sync system, which connects mobile phones, MP3 players and iPods to the car's audio system, for $395.
Consumer Electronics Association Study
The Consumer Electronics Association found that only about one third of 16-to-24 year olds were willing to invest in telemetric-type systems. Those who would have consumer electronics installed in their cars were willing to spend only $270.
But advertisers reportedly are ready to come to the rescue of potential buyers because the new systems will give them tightly targeted audiences, often at the approaching time of purchase. Examples:
- A restaurant ad appears just as the motorist searches his GPS for the nearest eating place.
- A gasoline company ad appears on the GPS just as the motorist searches for the nearest auto service station.
Velle Kolde: Advertisers Will Subsidize Navigation Systems
Velle Kolde of Microsoft Auto told the Detroit Free Press that advertisers will subsidize most of the new auto navigation systems being installed during the next few years.
The number and diversity of things that motorists will be able to do through telematics is still way up in the air. Kolde said specific features will be tailored to the vehicle types chosen by the motorist.
"The list of possibilities seems endless," Webster wrote. She added that motorists will be able to input their own information into the systems, including such data as blood type, workplace, type of cell phone, favorite restaurants, preferred temperatures and recommended tire pressures. That information will allow the system to better serve the individual motorist during both emergencies and recreational travel.
"Then, you can tell your car what you want it to do and when," Webster said.
Advertisers, in turn, will be right there to lower the price of that convenience, as well as to share the information and the action.
