Mojiva’s most recent edition of its Mobile Advertising Guide looked specifically at how receptive consumers are to ads from automakers. The study looked at the entire purchase period from research, buying or leasing a car.

“The main takeaway for car manufacturers is that mobile has the power to increase share-of-voice in a unique and significant way – this study has indicated that respondents want to see the same type of promotions and messages from car manufacturers on their mobile device as they do on television, online, print and so on,” said Amy Vale, vice president of global research and strategic communications at Mojiva, New York.

“That means utilizing mobile as the center point of an advertising campaign and truly integrating the mobile buy with all other mediums to reinforce the messaging,” she said.

Mobile cars
Forty-five percent of the consumers surveyed in the Mojiva report own a vehicle.

Thirty-six percent of the study’s respondents said they planned to buy a car in the next 12 months with an additional five percent planning to lease in the next year, showing the opportunities for automobile marketers to target mobile users.

Twenty-eight percent of consumers surveyed did not own or plan to either buy or lease a car.

Of the current or future car owners and leasers, 27 percent of participants buy or lease a car more than every five years. Seventeen percent said that they bought or leased a car every five to ten years. Fifty-six percent of consumers said that they only leased or bought a car whenever their current car stopped working.

Forty-seven percent of consumers in the study interested in buying or leasing a car were receptive to mobile ads with a deal or offer attached to them. This shows that not only are consumers using their devices to access automobile information, they are also receptive to advertising.

Additionally, 21 percent of users would like to be able to view features or a video of the car and sign-up to communicate with the brand for future marketing.

Similarly, 21 percent of consumers in the study said that they want to sign-up for deals, offers and future communications as a result of seeing a mobile ad. Twelve percent of users would like to be able to book a test drive.

As a result of seeing a mobile ad, 57 percent of consumers would browse a Web site or play a mobile game.

“While it is a big purchase, the transaction itself won’t be happening on the device – this is why using mobile as a branding opportunity is so important,” Ms. Vale said.

“This trend shows us that brand marketers and agencies should be looking to mobile as a big part of their advertising buy, not an add-on after the planning, as it’s been done for traditional and online media,” she said.

The Mojiva study took place from January 4 to March 21 and was conducted by InsightExpress.

A mobile ad for Chevy

Mobile research
Nineteen percent of respondents had already researched a vehicle on their mobile device.

Fifty percent of users in the study said that they would be interested in researching a car via mobile but have not done it yet.

Consumers who would not be interested in buying a car represented 27 percent of respondents, and three percent of consumers surveyed did not own a mobile device.

When it comes to the types of purchases that consumers are responsible for, 77 percent of consumers bought groceries, 73 percent bought personal items and 72 percent bought clothing.

Nowadays, consumers often own multiple digital devices – including mobile – to keep them plugged in.

For example, 36 percent of consumers surveyed owned a smartphone, four percent owned a tablet, seven percent owned an Android-powered tablet and six percent of users have another tablet device.

“Based on this research, I’d say mobile rich media campaigns should play a much bigger role for auto brands in the future,” Ms. Vale said.

“Mobile rich media with videos and galleries can increase brand awareness and highlight features of the model, lead capture forms and links to social allow for the auto brand to continue the conversation after the ad exposure and dealer locators can increase test drives – all of which can be done in the one ad unit,” she said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York