For the majority of drivers, buying a car (especially secondhand) can be overwhelming and filled with frustration. Enter CarDoor, the Toronto-based company making it easy to buy and trade-in vehicles online. With CarDoor, shoppers can purchase high-quality, certified vehicles from the comfort of their own home – no dealership required. Their mission is simple: to make car shopping an easy, convenient, and enjoyable experience.
What makes CarDoor different from other car buying companies is the extensive inventory they have available thanks to their two-sided marketplace model. The platform can facilitate an entire buy or trade-in process for the consumer while also partnering with dealerships that sell their inventory on the CarDoor website. This allows the company to build a relationship with the customer over time and eventually have them purchase on their own terms.
We sat down with Matt McKenzie, Founder and CEO of CarDoor to discuss everything from CarDoor’s unique car buying platform to launching creative and impactful out-of-home campaigns with Broadsign Ads (formerly Campsite).
Here’s a recap of our discussion. You can also check out the full video here.
The misconceptions of DOOH
In the initial stages of planning CarDoor’s marketing strategy, they were unsure if they could afford to focus on building brand awareness through out-of-home. As Matt explains, there was a misconception that running DOOH campaigns would be too costly and wouldn’t reach the right audience. They initially thought that their marketing budget would be most impactful if spent on targeting high-intent customers, or customers who were very far advanced in the car buying process.
Turning to DOOH for creative and impactful messaging
To help create a marketing strategy that would reach a bigger audience, CarDoor began working with Salt XC agency to run creative and impactful campaigns that focused on building brand awareness. In an effort to reach potential car buyers in the right place and at the right time (when they’re looking for a new car), CarDoor and Salt Xc decided to focus on targeting audiences in a contextual, location-based way.
In doing research, they wanted to figure out how to target potential buyers in high-density areas. They found that people often decide they want a new car when they start to experience problems like noises and warning signals while driving their current vehicle. With this information, the idea of placing DOOH ads with specific creatives in areas near auto repair shops was presented.
Using Broadsign Ads to launch CarDoor’s DOOH campaigns
Going a step beyond placing ads close to repair shops, CarDoor and Salt XC then decided to buy DOOH space in very close proximity to traditional dealerships – sometimes even buying space on their rooftops.
Using Broadsign Ads, they were able to locate the radius of billboards and target audiences with creative and impactful messaging. These large, strategically placed billboards helped the company focus on building brand awareness while reaching the right people to convey their message of ‘car shopping made easy.’
They were also able to use Broadsign Ads to purchase ad inventory in test centers as a way to target Gen Zs waiting to take their driving tests. This strategy of running DOOH ads allowed them to reach an audience who’s already comfortable with shopping online in a contextual location.
Click here to watch the full video.
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