Auto Trader launches ATL and integrated campaign with Jennifer Saunders
December 20, 2020
This Boxing Day, Auto Trader, the UK’s largest digital marketplace for new and used cars, will launch its largest integrated campaign to date, banging the drum for what the brand is famous for and taking ownership of the title of Britain’s Biggest Matchmaker.
Britain’s Biggest Matchmaker is a campaign platform that celebrates the diversity of today’s car buying public, hero-ing Auto Trader’s sheer scale as well as its proud history of matching buyers and sellers in Britain for over 40 years, regardless of needs, tastes, wants and niches.
Despite a year of national and regional lockdowns and new restrictions imposed on car retailers and car buyers, Auto Trader has seen record numbers of visits and engagement on its platform. There has also been a rapid adoption of Auto Trader’s buy online services as car dealerships respond to digital retailing demand, and consumers flock to a brand they trust during troubling times.
The timing of this new campaign capitalises on the brand’s leadership in the automotive category after a year where it was the go-to-destination for a record breaking number of car buyers.
In the first iteration of the new matchmaker platform, the campaign is set to deliver four hero creatives, with each one championing British humour and diversity. There is no stereotypical car buyer or seller, and the seven characters used throughout embrace and celebrate various genders, ethnicities, sexualities and interests.
Jennifer Saunders is confirmed as the new voice of the brand, bringing her own British humour and distinctive voice to a campaign that relies on a subtle British sense of humour and relatable (if not eccentric) British characters.
Britain’s Biggest Matchmaker comprises a powerful omnichannel approach, targeting a mass audience of both current and future car buyers. It will include above the line (ATL) platforms including TV, broadcast video on demand (BVOD) and radio as well as digital activity spanning social, display, digital audio and online video.
The new creative will also live throughout Auto Trader’s owned channels and platforms including onsite, email, in app, search and organic social. PR will be led by Red Havas in coordination with Auto Trader’s in-house PR team.
The campaign is set to launch in late December this year but is designed to set Auto Trader on a course with always-on visibility, introducing new characters and scenarios as the platform grows with the Auto Trader business and product/service offering.
Auto Trader’s Head of Marketing Communications, Ben Darby, says: “Auto Trader is a brand with incredible scale, awareness, trust and heritage in the UK and Britain’s Biggest Matchmaker pays homage to this and celebrates the role the brand has played for the last 40 years. It not only offers us a scalable platform that we can build on for the future, but also gives us a clear voice and message that is a true reflection of what makes Auto Trader famous with UK car buyers and sellers. We’re really excited to reveal more of the Auto Trader personality in this way and look forward to seeing how these initial characters and the new platform resonates with UK car buyers.”