“We want to engage with people when they’re not thinking about buying a car.”  You may be surprised that this quote is from George Blakenship, head of Tesla’s sales strategy. In reality, it perfectly expresses the automotive industry’s growing interest in the mall environment.

If it’s clear that shoppers don’t come to the mall with the ultimate goal of buying a car, then why are automotive brands becoming more and more present in the space? When it comes to purchasing a car, the decision making process is long and almost always involves research online. By the time they arrive to the dealership, customers already know what vehicle they want. Therefore, reaching out to consumers earlier in the selling cycle is a priority for automotive brands that understand the complexity of this scale.

With twenty-five in-mall stores across the country, Tesla’s strategy tells a lot about the value of being present in the right environment. The luxury electric car brand is capitalizing on the unique opportunity to reach upscale consumers in a happy, positive, and curious frame of mind: “Right now, the stores are our advertising” explained Tesla’s spokeswoman, Alexis Georgeson.

While in-mall auto showrooms may be a new concept, automotive advertising in the mall environment is not. Several automotive brands have used Adspace Digital Mall Network to advertise on the Smart Screens over the years. From branding to retail, all the campaigns demonstrated significant results…so we decided it was time to share our success stories!

From national advertisers such as Lexus and Ford to local dealerships, Adspace has conducted multiple studies providing insight into the way shoppers are affected by seeing automotive advertising on the Smart Screens in the mall.

Adspace has gathered compelling automotive data demonstrating our ability to improve ROI, advertising recall and awareness, positive impressions and word of mouth, as well as brand and purchase consideration.

The Impact of Adspace on Automotive Brands is available for download here with all the details of our findings. Catch some highlights from three major researches below:

• 2011 Millward Brown Optimor ROI Study: The Lexus campaign on Adspace’s Smart Screens drove a higher ROI ($2.47) than average TV ($0.94) and Online Ads ($2.18).                                                                                                                                 
• 2010 Nielsen Media and Commercial Effectiveness Study: The opinion of Ford among consumers who plan to purchase a car within a year increased by 92% after exposure.

• 2007 Mall Intercept Advertising Awareness and Effectiveness Research: Mercury Milan’s campaign on Adspace created more awareness than billboard, print, and radio among Women 25-54.

These successful results show that automotive brands don’t need to go as far as opening stores to benefit from the mall environment. With an average of 14 Smart Screens per mall, advertising with Adspace allows them to amplify their presence in this positive space at a lower cost.