The website, which launched in October 2010 and already boasts over 1.1 million unique users a month, 4.8million page views and over 65 million views on its You Tube channel, has seen phenomenal success and has fast become Dennis Publishing’s second biggest website in terms of revenue with a 50% increase last year alone (YOY 2012). Attracting potential car buyers from across the UK, the brand prides itself on providing honest, real life, no-nonsense advice. It offers car buyers, plain English expert reviews of new cars as they go on sale, owner reviews, tips and advice on buying new cars as well as up to date information on car specs and deals, says Dennis Publishing.
The website has been updated this month and now has 400+ expert reviews, 350 videos, over 40,000 owner reviews, a new logo and an updated look for the site.
James Burnay Publishing Director said: “Carbuyer doesn’t just tell you what it is like to drive a car, it tells you what it is like to own it. It gives consumers information that really matters to them, what the running costs are, what may go wrong and what existing owners think of their cars”
Kerry Lee – Marketing Director said: “We want to accelerate Carbuyer’s success and so have developed an integrated marketing campaign that kicks off early January. Before developing the campaign, we ran several focus groups to find out what our readers wanted and identified how we could improve the content and usability of the site. With insights from these and other research, we have updated the site and created a campaign that doesn’t just show it’s functionality but reflects one of the realities of every day car buying. ”
The Carbuyer marketing campaign will see television, print and online ads run throughout January across the UK. The integrated campaign focuses on Carbuyer as the ‘go-to’ website for anyone buying a new car. It features three characters that all have an opinion about cars, but are probably not the best people to turn to. “Everyone has an Uncle Barry or a neighbour Petulia who is happy to give advice on cars, but we know that most people want to ask the experts or people that already own the car. That’s where Carbuyer can help. ”
Print ads will run in national magazines in January including evo, Octane, Land Rover Monthly, Vantage and The Week. Television ads, comprised of three 10 second ads and one 30 seconds slot will run throughout the month on ITV and Channel 4 in prime time slots, and will be accompanied by a digital campaign with the same ads running on YouTube and 4OD. The advert can be viewed here.
The campaign has been designed to build awareness of the Carbuyer brand and to drive traffic to the site.
An accompanying social media campaign will feature activity across the brand’s Twitter and Facebook channels, issuing bespoke content around the theme of the marketing campaign and encouraging interaction from users with #badforcaradvice and #worstcaradvice.
