Car buying and selling website AutoTrader.ca is skipping the subtleties in its new campaign promoting its service to everyday Canadians.
The automotive classifieds company is blatantly targeting the average consumer by casting “some guy” as its pitchman. In English Canada, the so-called “everyman” is played by comedian Kyle Hickey and by actor and musician Simon Pelletier-Gilbert in French Canada.
The campaign builds on the brand positioning AutoTrader unveiled last year, which included advertisements with various characters such as a grandmother shopping for a vehicle on the site, underscoring the message that anyone can figure out how to use the car-shopping service.
The latest campaign is intended to demonstrate more how the site functions, using computer-generated imagery, and to promote that it’s free for users, said Ian MacDonald, director of marketing at AutoTrader parent, Trader Corporation.
“We wanted to use a method of execution which was a bit easier to understand… to bring to life and demonstrate some of the functionality and site elements in a much more in-your-face way,” MacDonald told Marketing.
He said the campaign targets men and women in their early 20s to late 40s, with the official tagline: “Where Canadians click with cars.”
The ads were developed by Toronto-based Co-op Advertising, and appears on both traditional and specialty television networks, including sports programming such as Hockey Night in Canada.
“We loved Co-op’s tongue-in-cheek take on the role of a traditional brand spokesperson,” MacDonald said of the campaign.
There are a total of 10 English videos and 10 in French, ranging from 15 to 30-seconds, all of which were shot in studio on green screen.
The campaign launched last week with three spots. It also includes out-of-home billboards and bus shelter ads in larger cities across Canada, as well as social media, including pre-roll on YouTube and across various Canadian websites.
Additional creative will be released on television and online throughout the year, MacDonald said.
“The creative does a nice job of demonstrating AutoTrader’s functionality, in the form of robust tools and features, while still hitting on the brand personality which is edgy and fun,” said Co-op managing director Peter Brough, in a release.
Holiday Films produced the ads, while California-based Ocean Media handled the media buy with the exception of digital, which was managed in-house.
