The new vehicle market has been showing a steady decline over the past three years, and sales in 2016 reached a record low. There are a number of reasons why the market finds itself in this challenging position, not least the fact that consumers are faced with the double whammy of increased interest rates and higher prices. Redzone spoke to executive business director for the Toyota SA account at FCB Jo’burg, Reagan Kok, about how this decline has affected advertising in this space. Kok reports that not only did the automotive market continue to shrink during 2016, it also became extremely competitive. “We’ve seen various strategies by different automotive brands over this time, based on the decline,” he says, adding that the greatest shift has been towards using international advertising. He says this is sometimes adapted, although often not, in a bid to save on production costs. There’s also a new focus when it comes to strategies, he says. Some brands pick a hero model and focus ...
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