AUTOADS

Bronze Spike

Case Film

Presentation Image

TitleAUTOADS
BrandCARSALES.COM.AU
Product / ServiceONLINE AUTOMOTIVE CLASSIFIEDS
CategoryB01. Use of TV & Other Screens
EntrantCHE PROXIMITY Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Idea Creation CHE PROXIMITY Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Media Placement CHE PROXIMITY Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Production CHE PROXIMITY Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Production 2 GUILTY CONTENT Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Ant White CHE Proximity Chief Creative Officer
Glen Dickson CHE Proximity Group Creative Director
Chris Andrews CHE Proximity Creative Director
Joe Hill CHE Proximity Creative Director
Garret Fitzgerald CHE Proximity Creative Director
Cameron Bell CHE Proximity Senior Copywriter
Sam Dickson CHE Proximity Senior Art Director
Julie Duff CHE Proximity Head of CHEP Films
Elena Szymanski CHE Proximity CHEP Films Producer
Damian Capicchiano CHE Proximity Senior Editor
Matt Thompson CHE Proximity Sound Engineer
Matt Rose CHE Proximity Technical Director - Products & Communications
Hoang Nguyen CHE Proximity Technical Director - Web & Platform
Andy Stewart CHE Proximity Creative Technologist
Sam Bury CHE Proximity Digital Producer
Chris Howatson CHE Proximity CEO
Andrew Drougas CHE Proximity Chief Operating Officer
Jess Hughes CHE Proximity Group Account Director
Sarah Newell CHE Proximity Account Director
James Needham CHE Proximity Planning Director
Loner Studio Loner Studio Music
Tony Rogers Guilty Director
Jason Byrne Guilty Producer
Rohan Timlock Guilty Producer
Kellie Cordner carsales.com.au Chief Marketing Officer
Trudi Sampola carsales.com.au Group Marketing Manager
Jun Lee Sia carsales.com.au Brand Manager
Caitlin Retell carsales.com.au Digital Specialist
Luke Bronts carsales.com.au Development Manager
Sarah-Lucy Price carsales.com.au PR Director

The Campaign

We created carsales’ AutoAds, a platform where anyone trying to sell a second-hand car got a one-of-a-kind, expensive-feeling car ad. For free. carsales AutoAds is a cloud-based ad generating platform that uses car listing data to automatically create one-of-a-kind car ads. Sellers didn’t have to lift a finger either. All they have to do is list their car as they normally would, and the data (the information they enter about their beloved second-hand car) was seamlessly used to create a unique TV ad. After listing their car, sellers received an email with five personalised car ads to share with their social network. Each was based on a clichéd car commercial genre. Tough, City, Adventure, Family and Luxury. The AutoAds platform is capable of generating over 1.2 trillion possible combinations ensuring that no two ads will ever be the same.

Creative Execution

We created big, expensive feeling, one-of-a-kind car ads for every Australian who was trying to sell their second-hand car. Each ad played off a classic car ad theme: Adventure, Luxury, City, Tough and Family. And behind each of these one-of-a-kind ads was a series of bespoke algorithms that scraped the classified forms sellers were filling out. As they started tapping the keys, the algorithm started working in the background, automatically ingesting inputs into our video creation platform. The data helped generate over 5,000 audio and video clips. Every photo, every possible odometer reading, every seller’s name, every price variable was stored in a huge library, ready and waiting for our purpose-built tech to generate the next ad in real time. The result was a library of elements that could be seamlessly stitched to create 1.2 trillion possible combinations of car ads.

A week into the campaign, over 435,215 AutoAds were generated. Over 5,000 AutoAds are still being generated every day. In a country where the population is just over 24 million, we managed to reach 16.8 million people via earned (PR) and paid media (TV). And among a selection of others, Carole Smith’s ad for her 2001 Toyota Corolla was beamed into a million lounge rooms across Australia. It might be the most far reaching second-hand car ad ever!

AutoAds by carsales.com.au is an example of efficient and effective use of data-driven creativity that utilised a media platform – Facebook – in a way that’s never been achieved before. Through mass personalisation it created over 400,000 individual car ads in the first week. Achieving reach, scale and awareness via Facebook that is normally only possible through paid media, for free. Through AutoAds, carsales leveraged the power of a paid platform for each and every one of its sellers.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The process of selling a car is as laborious and frustrating as it is difficult. You create a listing, add in the details, take some amateur photos and then hope to be found within a sea of other used cars. The only innovation in the category over the past 20 years, was that you could now do it online. Something carsales, Australia’s leading online car classified platform, already did very well. On top of that, new cars were becoming more appealing than ever with car manufacturer’s big budget ad campaigns and constant retail deals. While second-hand sellers obviously couldn’t match their budgets, we could help them level the playing field by making things hugely more personal and entertaining. Enter carsales’ AutoAds – a custom built tool that gave everyone selling their car their very own personalised, expensive-feeling car ad.

Links

Supporting Webpage