The car companies are spending well over $1 billion on CarPlay and Android Auto this year, and Pioneer Electronics has a plan to take advantage of it.
Pioneer will run ads starting May or late April that literally follow car company print and digital ads on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in placement. And the Pioneer ads will tell consumers they don’t have to buy a new car to get the Apple and Android car tech.
“Where possible, online or in print, we want to be right behind them with the message,” said Pioneer VP Marketing for Car Electronics, Ted Cardenas.
Pioneer’s 2015 ad spend for CarPlay/Android Auto will be larger than last year (although budgets are still being finalized).
Currently there are 46 car models that offer the new Apple or Android technology.
GM is heavily advertising CarPlay for the Chevy Malibu, and Volkswagen is running a CarPlay ad. Hyundai has also run ads for Android Auto.
“We counted at least 4 or 5 spots during the Super Bowl and the average spend on a Super Bowl ad is several hundred thousand dollars. So that’s $800,000. Add in March Madness ads and NBA Finals ads and the rest of the year in TV and print,” Cardenas said stating that the ad spend quickly passes $1 billion on the part of the car companies on CarPlay and Android Auto.
He noted Chevy Malibu’s ad on CarPlay is “in heavy rotation.”
Cardenas also speculates that Apple may include CarPlay in its upcoming promotions for Apple Music.
Pioneer will also continue its demo Road Show with Best Buy this year that focuses on promoting CarPlay/Android Auto.
As last year, Pioneer will participate in Best Buy’s annual training tour for its auto techs and during weekends it will park a CarPlay/Android Auto equipped demo van outside of Best Buy stores around the country and offer consumers demos of the technology. The tour should run from April through the end of September, stopping in over 40 cities.
