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Campaign Planning: Cars.com develops H2 marketing after last year's considerable media boosts

Q4 2018 earnings transcript). The online vehicle resource is planning increased and targeted marketing investments, including organic SEO performance, CRM efforts and strong branding. CEO Alex Vetter is planning marketing upticks "in the second half of 2019 and into 2020," where guided revenue growth is expected to go from 5% to 12%.

The strategy will include an emphasis on dealers, so B2B marketing is key. Sellers should drive ahead with your pitches ahead of H2 boosts. This February, Cars.com launched a R/GA, so also plan for an emphasis on sports to appeal to men (more below).

Agencies and martechs -- approach marketing leaders throughout the year as the company is clearly open to outside influence. Keep in mind, Cars.com moved digital (programmatic) media buying in-house last November, while here).

Kantar Media shows Cars.com spent over $41.8 million last Q1-3 predominantly on digital ($25.8m) and TV ($15.9m), while print supported. Even without Q4 data, the annual total has already surpassed previous ones: $28.2m (2017) and $29.1m (2016). Broadcast and digital typically drive the media strategy.

Cars.com has yet to spend on TV this year; we'll keep you posted. Last year's broadcast total hit $23m as programming for boomers and men dominated, according to iSpot. Television spend remained consistent; $23.4m was 2016's amount.

Digital display has also been dependable. The company spent $12.8m on desktop, mobile and video ads in the last 12 months, according to Adbeat. Top networks include Google, Direct Buy and Outbrain. Top publishing sites are chicagotribune.com, washingtonpost.com, kansascity.com and sacbee.com. This is up slightly from the $11.5m spent in the the previous 12 months.

From 2/5:

consist of creative in which people respond to events that happen during the Super Bowl. Because many people who watch sports events interact on social networks, the campaign will target the game's viewers in a way that involves them in conversation.

"The Big Match" also continues Cars.com's tendency to brand itself as a matchmaker for cars, a strategy designed to target millennials and Gen-X (male skew). Its top spending period is Q1, and it typically invests in TV, digital, print and social media.

Cars.com recently announced that its FY2018, which closed in December, saw site traffic rise 11% YOY, marking twelve consecutive months of traffic gains. December specifically broke records for the company, with a 21% YOY increase in traffic for the month. Cars.com also reported an 8% growth in December mobile app activity. Additionally, it launched new digital retailing tools helping car shoppers more efficiently purchase vehicles.

In 2018, iSpot reports that the company spent more than $23 million on national TV targeting men (see chart right). This amount nearly matched Cars.com's 2017 spend of $23.4 million.

According to Adbeat, within the past year, the company has spent $9.7 million on digital display placed mostly through Google networks (57%) on destinations including chicagotribune.com, washingtonpost.com, kansascity.com, sacbee.com and thestate.com. This decreased a bit from the $10.4 million spent during the previous year.

Agency & martech readers - recently brought in-house. Since Sixt's relationship with R/GA is also relatively new, I'd prospect elsewhere for now.