Automakers should pivot their marketing to respond to changes in the EV market and impending EV mandates, writes Ahed Nakad Genza
Looking at the history of electric vehicles (EVs) over the past 20 years or so, it's easy to interpret the market growth as meteoric. British battery electric vehicles (BEVs) gained a market share of 16.6% in September 2023, a significant increase from just 0.7% in September 2018. However, a short-term view of the market reveals a different perspective. While overall registrations of electric vehicles increased by about 20%, sales to private buyers fell by 14% and remain below pre-pandemic levels.
This is a big problem for manufacturers. The government is pushing for zero-emission vehicle mandates, which will require manufacturers to ensure that eight out of 10 cars sold are powered by batteries or hydrogen by 2030. This will need to be driven by a significant increase in sales to private buyers. Although a complete ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will be delayed from 2030 to 2035, the government's plans to move forward with this obligation will immediately accelerate the transition to EVs and encourage motorists to make the switch. means you need to.
It's clear that automakers need to pivot their marketing to respond to these market changes and looming mandate deadlines. Marketers are accustomed to tracking changing tastes and product evolution, but tackling new categories like the BEV market provides an opportunity to rethink sales across the industry. This requires a careful re-evaluation of your marketing approach.
Evolving EV marketing
Hesitation about growing EV sales, even temporarily, is an opportunity to rethink how EV marketing should differ from previous generations of automotive marketing. Although EVs may physically resemble traditional cars, they are an entirely new product category and require significant changes in driver behavior.
As more EVs take to the roads, general knowledge about EVs will increase as well as the target market. Millennials and Gen Z are generally considered to be comfortable with “new concepts,” but older generations' demand for lighter, faster and more sophisticated vehicles is pushing them into the EV space. I started stepping into it. With this more cautious and skeptical demographic in mind, potential buyers can come from a variety of walks of life. You may be looking for more information about charging and vehicle maintenance. Some may want the peace of mind that comes with green credentials. Others may be looking for brands with the most interactive and smart digital features to make their travels easier. Automotive marketing has always focused on brand awareness and stirring the emotions of audiences, but the expansion of the EV market means an equal focus on education, myth-busting and category innovation.
New ways to engage
No matter what a customer is looking for in the buying process, there are thousands of touchpoints along the way and it can take months to go from awareness to purchase. To remain dynamic and responsive, marketers must create campaigns that are tailored to customers’ needs, hopes, and fears regarding EVs, all aligned towards a “brand alignment” goal.
To engage customers, marketers are leveraging emerging formats such as connected TV, augmented reality (AR), dynamic video, and audience insight tools. Smarter targeting tools will enable EV marketers to link creative and interactive second-shelf screen experiences for heroes, driving education and trust from customers in this new market.
Apply the right ad technology
Using these new formats effectively is paramount. As with most other industries, the accessibility of generative AI is having a huge impact on the automotive industry, and this technology, among other applications, will improve how marketing campaigns understand customer response. provides an efficient way to understand
Marketers should create campaigns that align with customers' needs, hopes, and concerns about EVs, all with the goal of “brand alignment.”
EV marketers can leverage AI during the content creation phase of their campaigns, creating thousands of versions of ads and fine-tuning messages based on audience segments. Marketers can use insights and creative intelligence to evaluate creative content and understand what drives positive conversations and conversions. This could include determining the impact of female and male voiceovers, pasting localized backgrounds into the ad, or expanding the frame beyond the original ad footage.
This not only allows marketers to adapt their content to precisely match their campaign's target audience, but also ensures that the content evolves and works across multiple channels and formats. Masu. By automatically optimizing visuals and messaging for performance, EV brands have greater creative freedom and greater knowledge of new target audiences. By leveraging AI as a tool alongside human creativity, marketers will be able to deploy campaign content more efficiently and at a scale not possible through human efforts alone.
There is an increasing focus on changing the traditional purchasing funnel to increase creative relevance in the automotive industry. And it's not just the success of specific brands that is at stake, but also the social changes needed to have a positive environmental impact on the planet. While the factors motivating EV adoption vary by customer segment, marketers must be prepared to meet these needs and tailor campaign content and customer funnels for success.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Automotive World Ltd.
Ahed Nakad Genza Senior Vice President of Flashtalking Industry Sales at Mediaocean
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