Honda is lauching one of its biggest marketing campaigns to date, and while a good portion is aimed at pushing its Acura TLX luxury sedan, the carmaker is also clearly trying to spread its brand among those would-be car buyers who love to post, and enjoy videos.
It is planning on using one-third of its entire campaign budget for digital advertising, with Facebook the main piece of that puzzle.
The Acura TLX campaign is centered on a digital video marketing campaign with a goal to spark viral videos that garner the interest of potential buyers.
Acura Division Senior VP Mike Accavitti, who took over earlier this year, believes by hitting the digital world hard - there will still be a plethora of primetime ads for television - there is the opportunity of having a wider audience than ever before and users share videos and content more regularly than in years' past.
Accavitti says the campaign will hit 100 percent of users, meaning more than one billion potential customers, as well as doing takeovers of major we portals such as MSN and Yahoo.
Social media is offering new strategies for companies to advertise in, and while a number of companies have moved toward new media as a means of promoting their products, this marks the first time digital marketing is the main component for an auto maker.
While Acura is not negatively perceived in the U.S. market, it is largely overlooked by many consumers, and Accavitti hopes the new campaign will gain the company traction.
"It's not like we have a bad reputation that we need to overcome," he said. "It's just we have a nondescript reputation."
The company could also be taking advantage of the negative public attention given to other U.S. auto makers after millions of vehicles have been recalled this year due to defaults in manufacturing. However, automakers appear to be surging in sales, at least with SUVs, Tech Times reports, which could make the campaign that much more important if Acura wants to boost its market share.
According to sales reports issued by Ford and Toyota, both companies have seen a surge in sport-utility vehicles being purchased.
Last year, Honda spent some $170 million on marketing and advertising, and this year, observers say the company is planning to spend much more in order to bolster its presence among American customers, although the car maker did not reveal specific financials on the new campaign.
