Mark Regan

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Can't We All Just Get Along?

How many brands really manage their presence well from their initial touch point with the consumer while at the top of the sales funnel all the way through to the consumer's conversion?I rarely see it happen to be honest.The best practitioners I've seen are those in the automotive space. There the brand coexists with a regional or DMA level entity which also coexists with each individual dealer.Go ahead Google 'prius'. I did just now and this is what I got.Brand and Dealer CoexistenceAll three coexisting harmoniously.But at what expense? I've heard second hand how little coordination is going on here between the three groups who really number in the thousands throughout the US.In this case, Wesley Chapel Toyota is cutting a check to Google directly. They're also paying some fixed percentage into their local co-op, Southeast Toyota Distributors, who is advertising with these funds. And finally they bought the car from the manufacturer, Toyota, who in turn used some of the margin to advertise the Prius.Is it that competitive in the automotive space that they must own all three of the top spots on AdWords? To do this they are competing against themselves right? That's the only way you can own all three spots!Isn't there a better way to solve this problem?