Toyota made a brave decision during the 2008-2009 financial downturn – investing heavily in marketing and advertising, particularly in online advertising, when most of its competitors slashed spending on communications. One of the many digital websites they have dominated in the last 12 months is the mobile portal of Fairfax Media’s automotive section Drive.com.au. It might be good for Toyota, but is it destroying the user experience for everyday users of the mobile site? I need to disclose that one of my media clients at ZenithOptimedia Melbourne is a competitor (Honda Australia) and that Mojo Sydney is one of Toyota’s many rostered ATL advertising agencies, though I never worked with that team when I used to work in Sydney.
Toyota own 100% of the advertising space on the Drive all year round. That means headers and footers, on pages that are often not very tall, meaning the auto brand often takes up over 20%-30% of the mobile screen. Good for Toyota, usually yes. They can, and do, rotate many messages throughout the year in these placements, according the marketing priority.
But is it good for Drive.com.au? Should any one brand own so much real estate within a single classified website? I think if I was a dyed in the wool Holden driver it would make me not want to use the site so much. The same probably goes for any other potential car buyer not considering a Toyota.
What is also puzzling is that misspelled searches for many major manufacturers are not being redirected or alternative spellings are not being suggested, which is a really common behaviour on mobile devices with tiny keypads (see VW example below).
Finally, the other issue I have with the way Fairfax appear to be structuring the sponsorship deal is that they are hiding the ‘call this dealer’ link on each car listing on any car that is not a Toyota. Is this really necessary? Toyota may make up 20% of the Australian car market, in terms of sales, but is it in Fairfax’s long term interests to treat the other 80% this way?
It is interesting to also note that Drive.com.au was not included in the recent Market Intelligence audience measurement trial that most of Fairfax’s other mobile sites were (the ones without 12 month sponsorship arrangements).
