Automotive marketers have always been driven by the appeal of the NFL. Many OEMs sponsor different aspects of the television coverage such as pre-game, halftime, Super Bowl, etc. There are online sponsorships as well such as Lexus Play Caller game on ESPN.

Throughout the NFL season, Compete will be tracking OEM-site visitors’ NFL interest. The first is our pre-season look ranking the top-10 OEM-sites in July based on overlap of OEM-site visitors to a NFL Behavioral Segment. Compete has created this custom segment based on visits to the NFL sections of ESPN and Yahoo Sports.

In July, seven of the top-10 brands were luxury makes. Although most OEMs advertise on the NFL in some form, Lexus was the only brand in the set that currently has a television and online sponsorship.

Compete will report back mid-season to see if the rankings have changed and than again at the end of the season. Stay tuned.

WILL GM RIDE THE MALIBU WAVE
By: Dennis Bulgarelli

General Motors will be launching the all new ’08 Chevrolet Malibu in November behind a reported $100 million marketing blitz trumpeting the sedan’s re-launch. The Malibu, which is critical to GM’s recovery plan, is up against some tough rivals in the ultra-competitive mid-size sedan market, most notably Camry, Accord and Altima as well as Ford’s Fusion.

Compete’s shopper data shows Malibu demand has lagged key import rivals. Camry, Accord and Altima have led the mid-size segment with over 100,000 shoppers per month while Malibu has averaged approximately 34,000 shoppers per month over the past year. August shopper counts declined to 25,600, a near period low.

At the same time, Malibu has not generated significant interest among rival shoppers. Compete cross-shop data indicates that Malibu does not typically penetrate the top 10 cross-shop set of it key rivals. In fact, import shoppers cross-shop about 30 vehicles to a greater extent than Malibu.

To be successful in the mid-size sedan segment, Malibu must generate interest among competitive shoppers, especially those shopping Camry, Accord and Altima. Increased cross-shopping among rivals will generate additional Malibu demand and make it more likely that sales goals will be achieved. However, that task will be put to the test as Malibu will be going head-to-head with the all-new ’08 Accord.