Driving Attendance with Google Audio Ads

Google Audio Ads provides real value for Traditional Media agencies buying air time for their clients. We recently published a case study about Motor Trend Auto Shows and their agency, AdStrategies, on their success with using Google Audio Ads for supplemental audio buys.

Motor Trend Auto Shows is the largest producer of auto shows in the United States, holding 23 car shows annually in multiple cities nationwide. “In two or three hours you can see virtually every new make and model of car, truck, S.U.V., and minivan on the market, all under one roof, without pressure from salespeople,” says John Marriot, senior vice president and general manager of Motor Trend. “We live and die by the gate numbers. Our end goal is to sell tickets.”

Radio advertising has long been a substantial part of Motor Trend’s strategy for increasing awareness before shows. “Especially in that week before the show, we have to do everything we can to get the word out as efficiently as possible,” John says. For several years, John and Motor Trend have teamed up with the Maryland-based advertising agency AdStrategies to drive attendance to the auto shows. AdStrategies president Curt Van Loon and advertising technology specialist Andy Lynch both have extensive backgrounds in radio, and they’ve used that insider knowledge to help Motor Trend buy effective advertising on the airwaves and increase ticket sales.

AdStrategies explains, “We like to talk to our clients about new things that are happening — and Google is pretty much what we talk about. When we tell clients that we can use Google to go in and buy radio inventory, they’re amazed. They say, ‘Wow! You can do that?”

Google Audio Ads has helped Motor Trend Auto Shows grow its marketing reach geographically. “Google has allowed us to widen the circle,” Andy says. “If Motor Trend has an upcoming show, we can use Google Audio Ads to supplement their existing radio buy and find additional radio spots in nearby markets, and thereby expand the overall market.” Additionally, Google Audio Ads enables Motor Trend to reach a wider audience by giving them easy access to inventory in new radio markets — air time they might not have considered before adding Google Audio Ads to their overall ad spend.

With a greater choice of radio spots, Motor Trend and AdStrategies are able to make efficient spending decisions that result in more listeners for their ads. Motor Trend realizes the value in expanding across all types of stations. "Even a small station in a market has listeners. They may only have 2,000 listeners, but if we can get 500 of those to come to an auto show and buy a ticket, then we’ve succeeded,” explains Curt.

By supplementing Motor Trend’s traditional ad buy with Google Audio Ads, AdStrategies has helped Motor Trend Auto Shows increase the overall efficiency of their radio buys. “To me,” says John, “that’s a pretty sound strategy.”

Read the full case study here.

Posted by Julie Picquet, Account Manager for Google Audio Ads