EV Ads on Super Bowl Induced Online Searches, but Finding One is Hard

There has been a spike in searches for electric cars on Cars.com because of the Super Bowl ads, but if there are only a few models available for sale, it could hurt manufacturers' reputations. Is Tesla the same? The search boost remains the same, with no ads.

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It seems that Sunday’s well-captive Super Bowl audience has turned the night’s few vehicle advertisements, including for all-electric vehicles, into a burst of online searches for a new set of wheels, according to at least one shopping and research site, Cars.com.

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Cars.com logged a 21% increase in EV page views across its site and apps in spite of only four ads featuring an EV in the big game this year. During the eight minutes before each advertised car model advertisement aired and again eight minutes after the commercial aired, Cars.com studied website traffic patterns for car model pages on its website.

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At present, it is much less clear whether those searches will lead to actual purchases, especially as automobile manufacturers and consumers grapple with limited electric vehicle supply to deliver on what the ads promise during the big game and in extended online campaigns during the week. Those who had been waiting to get their hands on the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning, which was not advertised during the Super Bowl this year, sat on waiting lists for at least a year before some deliveries began beginning last year, according to people on waiting lists.

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There is no doubt that car buying is one of the most emotional and expensive purchases a person can make, so manufacturers have a tough sell on their hands. At any given time, only about 5% of Americans are active in the market when it comes to buying a car, according to data provided by Cars.com. Additionally, there are some communication challenges that an industry must deal with in order to convince more consumers to switch from gas to electric or to a gas-electric hybrid 7203, +0.32% - if not right now, then perhaps in the future when they make their next purchase or the one after that. Balance emotion with education is a Herculean task for an ad campaign to achieve.

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Cars.com's chief marketing officer Jennifer Vianello told Reuters: "Most car shoppers are undecided before they buy a car, and this undecidedness only grows as they progress through the process before they make their decision." “Well, they might say to themselves, "That looks good.". It's certainly something I'd like to test drive. However, after they have done their research, they find three to five other cars that they want to also comparison shop.”

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I think we can all agree that buying a car is a big investment, and adding the consideration of electric vehicles complicates the decision-making process. A guide to buying electric vehicles was published by Cars.com CARS, +3.65% last spring, and that research will be updated in the coming weeks as well.

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A new report from the site indicated that overall searches for vehicles are up so far in 2023, compared with the same time last year, in part due to the rise in supply chain activity, as well as the ease in what had been surging used-vehicle prices, which has resulted in a better comparison between new and used cars at present.

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“In fact, purchasing a home is the second biggest purchase that you will ever make in your life. Then on top of that, you ask if there is a charging infrastructure in place for this mega purchase, as well. In addition to being depressed, inventory levels are still very low at this time,” according to Vianello.

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In many ways, it is good that manufacturers are adding to the consumer choice, but Vianello said the industry should recognize that it is no longer relying on aspirational campaigns to attract consumers; rather, it must address practical implications, including the provision of charging and supply infrastructure, in order to attract customers.

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There is no doubt that the vehicle supply chains have begun to recover from the worst of the impact COVID-19 had on them, but they remain slow in returning to full capacity. Additionally, it is only when EVs include a higher percentage of North American-made components and labor that they will qualify for the most robust tax incentives. The road to meeting these requirements hasn't been easy, especially since the company will have to tap into overseas suppliers, for at least the time being, in order to fill an inventory gap in the short term. A fact sheet that answers many of the frequently asked questions about tax credits has been released by the IRS.

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Your Super Bowl (car-ad) winner

It wasn't the makers pushing electric vehicles the hardest that stood out on Sunday night, says Vianello.

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As a result of the airing of the Kia ad, "Binky Dad," Vianello said Cars.com traffic jumped 230%. This advertisement promoted the Kia 000270, +0.41% Telluride X-Pro All-Terrain, a rugged variant of the company's existing model recently launched in the U.S. In the commercial, a father appears to be a hero by going to considerable lengths to retrieve a forgotten pacifier - while driving his gas-powered, rather large SUV.”

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“Obviously, as a marketer, I found that ad to be exceptionally effective, and I was able to see the ad also in the search results," she said. “Among the reasons for this are the fact that the vehicle itself is available to the general public.”

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And the second winner? TSLA, -1.14%, on the other hand, which skips such advertising altogether, enjoyed a jump in searches on Cars.com whenever a competitor's electric vehicle advertisement ran during the game.

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There was a 26% increase in Tesla's stock during Jeep's "Electric Boogie" offering, which was less than Jeep's own 13% increase during the same time period as the company lowered prices on some models. Elon Musk was shown on the television broadcast watching the game from a stadium box during the live broadcast, and Tesla searches spiked by 29%. There were also two significant increases in traffic during these moments for Tesla used cars, despite the fact that the company did not advertise in these areas.

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Mixed message?

A total of four Super Bowl auto commercials have aired this year, with only three manufacturers airing four commercials in total - Kia, General Motors GM, +1.62%; and Stellantis STLA, +1.65%, which makes Jeep and Ram - out of the many manufacturers.

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When compared to Kia's surge of over 2000%, GM's “Why Not an Electric Vehicle? As a result of the performance of the “Premature Electrification” campaign, Cars.com saw a 50% search spike as soon as it began airing, and Ram’s polarizing take on the pharmaceutical industry’s erectile dysfunction treatments resulted in a 46% search increase.

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It is still possible to account for some of the growth in the broader market as well. It is true that Ford F, +2.83% was not advertising during this year's big game, but the manufacturer's EV page views on Cars.com showed a 118% increase in EV engagement due to RAM's "Premature Electrification" ad and a 146% lift during GM's “Why Not an EV?” ad.

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Now, let's take a look at the ads' messages. What are they saying? At the end of the day, it is all about converting searches into sales, right?

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“There was a bit of a struggle for me with Jeep's story and what they were trying to convey in terms of EVs,” Vianello said. He admitted that the spot was quite challenging as it had to stay true to Jeep's off-road persona against the difficulty of charging and range. “It is the consumer-adoption part of this issue that will be one of the biggest challenges that the auto industry has ever faced in its history."

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Would it be possible in a joint commercial with Netflix NFLX, +3.23%, for GM to have Will Ferrell, in an electric vehicle, enter the worlds of "Army of the Dead," "Squid Game," "Bridgerton," and "Stranger Things" in his EV?

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Having watched it a few times, Vianello said, "I really shut down with that.". “The show made sense and I enjoyed it. It may not be the most satisfying entry point for auto consumers to learn that this is the car I'll need in the desert, on safari, and in a zombie apocalypse."

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