A non-governmental group that helped enact Cash for Clunkers says the program has already injected millions into the economy before the first new car has been driven off a lot, toward an eventual $1B total of economic stimulus. CashForClunkersInformation.org says that the early spenders will reap the biggest benefits.
“The stimulus helps local markets more than national car companies because car dealers stimulate the local economy through their big advertising expenditures, job creation and enormous state tax revenue,” said the group’s Sharon O’Connell. “A small dealership who sells 100 vehicles a month spends an average of $500 per car in advertising, which is a total of $50,000 that is spent in local advertising.”
But this bill has drawn big budgets from the manufacturers themselves, who don’t want to miss out on the opportunity.
Unfortunately, the marketing bucks are being shared with other media. Many if not most consumers in the market for a vehicle go online these days, so dealers and manufacturers must have an effective presence there. Direct mail is also being used at the local level.
But broadcast can be an excellent tool to drive web traffic, and figures to get its fair share of marketing expenditures.
RBR/TVBR observation: We smelled windfall the minute we heard about this program, and have been providing early warning for months. Hopefully your station is getting a piece of this pie from one of broadcasting’s most damaged categories. And if this program goes well, maybe the US will expand its size and duration as has occurred in European pioneers of the Clunkers concept.
