Rocky Q3 For Publics, EV Test Drive Interest, Seeing the Same Ad Over and Over

Paul J Daly  0:01  
It is Monday, October 28 we're about to be on planes and trains and all the things to get to our next more than car chute. But first we're talking about the earnings reports consumers interested in driving, EVs, and the last thing, oh yeah. What actually happens when you see the same ads over and over? I think this is some interesting insights. Burn over. I think it's a great insight. People get lazy on their creative Oh,

Kyle Mountsier  0:26  
it's gonna burn you nailing that on a Monday, dude, you

Paul J Daly  0:32  
thought you were winning, but you're losing. Wow, just crushed him on him. Thought he was winning, but the sales floor realizes you're losing.

Kyle Mountsier  0:43  
I don't know how that's handled. That's great.

Paul J Daly  0:46  
It's sometimes well, sometimes poorly. Hey. So we are. We're excited because the team is in several places right now. Actually, Nathan's running the show from JFK Airport. Kyle and I are about to hit the road or the skies, a lot probably could roll with a heavy team we have, like, what team this time? We're going in people on site at roarman to shoot the first episode of season two, or at least, I don't know the release order, but this is the first shoot we've done for season two of Docu series. More than cars. You can see episode 1123, at more than cars.tv or you can go on our YouTube channel, or you can actually search it on prime. We didn't talk about that, but if you're listening to this show, you Wow. You can search this on Prime now and see it. It does cost $1.99 to see the season, but that dollar 99 is like a vote is like a flag in the ground that you're saying Amazon, there are people that want to watch this show. There are community around this show. And if you pay $1.99 and we're going to give you some extra love on the show, or somewhere, or something, and then we're going to eventually get it moved to ad supported, so everyone, all your friends, all your family, can watch it, uh, hopefully, maybe over Thanksgiving. If not, you pay the dollar 99 and just have it running in the back and just have it running just that's actually the industry I'm in, not what you thought. I love it. That sounds great. It does. And then, um, episode four of season one is going to be released in just two weeks. So this is the one we shot at Mohawk Chevrolet in the Hudson Valley, not the Hudson Valley, but just north of Albany boy. This one is full of energy, because this is a competitive, sports oriented store, and so this one's going to be a lot of fun. And so again, I don't do we have a pre sign up for this, or is it just the LinkedIn live event right now. We can't do everything.

Kyle Mountsier  2:44  
We can't LinkedIn, LinkedIn, live, LinkedIn, live.

Paul J Daly  2:46  
LinkedIn, live yet. Click on our profile. Click on events, you'll see it there. You can join be with us for the premiere, because it's so much fun when everyone's in the chat. We're in the chat and just watching some things go down. Let's talk about some news. Let's get into it. Lydia and driveway, which same company, right auto nation and Sonic all reported their q3, financial reports, little contrasting reports here, marked by the cyber attack impact, record revenues and operational success in both new and used vehicle segments, a record q3, revenue, 9.2 billion, which is up 11% year over year. Lithia This is lithias numbers they saw. Used Car sales jump 18.4% Wow, 300 plus dealerships continued acquisitions. Profit per unit did fall significantly though, with gross margins declining from 7.2 to 6.6% in used cars. Also some rising operational costs. Auto nation, they their revenue declined actually 4% to 6.6 billion, with a 9% drop in gross profit attributed largely they still talked about the residual effects of the CDK cyber attack that disrupted operations. CEO Mike Manley said the team has been super resilient, citing strong performance in new car and after sales services as key drivers to offset some of those declines. Echo Park, which is Sonic automotive shoes, car division, set a new q3 record, with 55 point 2 million in gross profit, alongside a 131% year over year increase in net income thanks to all that cost cutting we were talking about six nine months ago and downsizing, meaning closing underperforming stores. But despite a 7% drop in unit sales, cost savings drove up per unit, gross profits to $3,111 per unit, showcasing some resilience, you know. So, wow. What do we have this week? This week we have group one coming up Penske and Asbury, so pretty interesting. We'll

Kyle Mountsier  4:44  
keep you up to date on that. Look, I would just say, if this is what's happening at the Publix and used cars are still on a run like pay attention to your used car profitability, expenses, marketing. Inventory, because if these publics are getting their fair share of the used car market right now, exists, exist. I

Paul J Daly  5:08  
mean, this is one of those. This is one of those things where it's easy to look at the publics. I think it's a good litmus test. I mean, some groups are large, still right, and they can take some cues and things, but what non public groups has is the advantage to not be at the mercy of that 90 day earnings reporting cycle, which is obviously one of the challenges Newton, I got a pretty good front row seat to this, and some consulting with some publics and things like that. They have some pretty unique challenges with, you know, public perception, with earnings reports and all that. If you're not a public you do have quite an advantage of being able to, you know, kind of stick with a long term strategy that that's working, or might take a little more time to bake and look last, last leg of the year. I think everyone's just gotta get more creative. Honestly, yep,

Kyle Mountsier  5:53  
there's plenty to have to grab, as far as consumer demand this this quarter, you know, don't get caught up by the political thing. It'll be over in a couple of

Paul J Daly  6:04  
seasons. There, it's actually a week from tomorrow. Well, we say a week from tomorrow, right? Yeah, at least, you know, I mean, yeah, well, there'll

Kyle Mountsier  6:10  
be some residual impact, but, like, the the big push of it, right? Yeah. And so advertising will stop largely, yes, yeah. Just like, gear that thing up. Get your content ready, get your get your inventory right, and finish the year strong. I mean that i I haven't heard of anyone just like full on Doom and glooming this thing right now. And the earnings reports are are up, so let's go. Let's have a q4 you know, all right,

Paul J Daly  6:36  
here's a little something that might help

Unknown Speaker  6:38  
stop right. Speaking

Paul J Daly  6:39  
of the creative side of it, how do you generate traffic? Well, by giving consumers what it is that they're actually looking for. A recent consumer report survey shows that many Americans are still interested in exploring electric vehicles. Get this, 50% one out of every two Americans saying they would consider test driving an EV during their next dealership. Only 37% are not interested. So 50% are like, I'm definitely interested. 37% I'm not interested. A little bit of a Delta there. Those are the people on the bubble. So a pretty big majority, 20% of consumers seeking hybrids or EVs reported dissatisfaction with dealership information on EVs and hybrids, while another 46% felt only somewhat satisfied. So we got some work to do and some ground to make. Here's a quote from Chris Harto, senior policy analyst at Consumer Reports. He said, consumer interest in cleaner vehicle types continues to be strong, but many consumers still have a lot of questions. Smells like opportunity.

Kyle Mountsier  7:39  
Look, this is if I'm in a dealership right now and I'm hearing this, I'm going great. I'm running three trainings this week specifically on EVs competitors, how it works, why it works, what technology is available in my EVS. I'm putting those jokes on the front line, and I'm running some content that says, Get Your FREE EV test drive. First Look here, yes, and look here's the thing. So many people come in and don't buy the first thing that they drive. Just get some energy and excitement out of it, and maybe you become home based for EV information over the next three to four years, as people are figuring out what their next vehicle is, even if they don't buy that. Now that's

Paul J Daly  8:19  
a good point. I was at a cars.com private dealer roundtable last week, and one of the points that was brought up, I think it was by their cmo Jenny. She was like, she's been in a lot of different industries, and she's like, you know, automotive is the only industry where the fun or the consideration pool actually grows the further customer goes down the funnel. Isn't that wild? It is. And that means, when you're in the store and you see EVs, and you see these test drives, and you see a bunch of information, guess what? 50% of Americans are already saying, I consider it, what a great differentiator. And if, even if it's not like I feel like marketing this way is a way to drive consumer interest, if this is in their mind, then that might actually push them over the edge to just start look your website,

Kyle Mountsier  9:03  
camping this weekend, and before I even told anyone that I was in auto, I was in three conversations about EVs. Before I even told anyone I was in these people, you didn't know. I had no clue who these people were. They didn't know I was in auto three conversations about EVs. The consumer is aware.

Paul J Daly  9:24  
Oh my gosh. And Nathan is live typing in a producer note from JFK airport. He said that was why he rented an EV last month. Full Video to come soon. Oh, that's right, that's right. We do have a little vlog, kind of video on the EV experience. Nathan's EV experience, I'm gonna say I tried to coerce him into driving the cyber truck. We were John Foley. I was like, Nathan, you got to drive this. And he was like, I think I've had enough new adventure for one day that 86 put him right over as if I Oh, isn't Ionic? Was it ionic six? Yeah, yeah. He's typing in more notes. Just come into the show. But at this point,

Speaker 1  9:58  
unbelievable. Just fine. Hi, we can't

Paul J Daly  10:03  
hear him. I can't see him, can you?

Kyle Mountsier  10:04  
I can't see him. I just, this is, like, one of those, okay,

Paul J Daly  10:09  
the voice is the producer, yeah,

Nathan Southwick  10:10  
exactly. We were driving an EV six, and the reason I didn't want to drive the cyber truck is that's just like, that was a lot of like, liability, right there. I was, like,

Paul J Daly  10:21  
it was a high pressure situation. I get it, and especially when I, like, sprung it to you, like, we drove it. It was in self driving, and then we pulled into a parking lot, and I stopped him, like, right? Nathan, your attorney's like, that's all right, it gives us a chance for the next time you have the opportunity, you're going to take it next time. Because I will say at the end the next day, he was like, I should have drove it.

Nathan Southwick  10:43  
I know I was. I was kind of regretting it. Having a little bit of FOMO after the fact,

Paul J Daly  10:47  
it's okay, we'll make it happen. Speaking of a little bit of regret, I think it should be

Kyle Mountsier  10:57  
all right, here's an ad ID survey. Their latest survey highlighted that ad fatigue as a growing influence on consumer behavior is coming around with a significant portion of US adults feeling increasingly disengaged, to disincline, to engage with brands that overuse ad repetition. Whoa. Here it is. 61% of adults report reduced interest in brands showing repeated ads. And 49% amidst skipping a product purchase due to excessive ad exposure, altogether. Younger adults, men and parents Express heightened annoyance with repeat ads. 76% prefer ads that align with their interests. 63% say fresh, relevant ads drive new purchases. Here it is. Ad ID CEO nada Bradbury is urging brands to rethink ad strategy, saying the next step will be knowing how many times seeing the same ad is too many. So what is the ad frequency? And when do you need to pull the plug on that? Oh

Paul J Daly  11:58  
my gosh. This is such a big one for our industry who has a lot of repetitive, naturally speaking, repetitive ads, and even ads that might not be the same ad, like, Oh no, no, we have all of our offers, same B roll, same voice over, just some different numbers at the end. Listen, make me throw away that people want variety in the creative in the way you're presenting yourself, you have to invest in making multiple types of ads, some brand ads, some offer ads, and running a variety, or, as this says, it's like just peppering the market with ads. You could actually be turning people off from your brand. People want to be entertained when they see an ad. They want something that's relevant. And then, obviously, on the data side, how many times are they seeing it? You better know, I don't know. I'm an advocate for creative.

Kyle Mountsier  12:48  
I mean, I am too man.

Paul J Daly  12:49  
Thank you beating the horse. The horse seems dead to me.

Kyle Mountsier  12:52  
I'm all about this one. I'm like, refresh your creative, make sure and make it relevant. You know, especially if you're delivering different ad channels, put the creative there that makes the most sense

Paul J Daly  13:00  
for the audience. It's honestly one of the reasons that we've built the more than cars ecosystem way we have. Because add you can run ads to the content we make for more than cars, right? Like, we're gonna put the dealership in the best light. So it's like, do it a different you don't have to get us to do it. But like, just get a phone and like, talk to your people, tell the good stories. It's not that hard. We're trying to show you the way, however we can, in the meantime, make sure you go over and you check out the LinkedIn page so you can be part of the premiere of more the cars episode four. You

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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