Capturing opportunity and demand in a lean inventory market

Tier10 recognized that the environment of 2021 had significantly impacted the marketing efforts of dealers at all levels, with its own clients experiencing decreases between 4% and 22%. As Tier 1 and Tier 3 marketing budgets decreased, Tier10 found it crucial to maintain Honda’s presence on the Tier 2 level while improving efficiency. The agency saw this as a great opportunity for Honda dealers to increase their share of voice in the marketplace and generate more interest and intenders for the brand. Increased interest would allow dealers to match customers to cars as soon as inventory became available and to establish a positive customer experience.

With the pandemic’s continued impact on budgets and inventory, it was clear that Tier10 needed to leverage its tried-and-true expiring lease strategy, which originated in 2017 and evolved into Qualified Customer through its success. The campaign – a blended mail and digital strategy – capitalized on the increased lease-return rate and captured the off-lease audience through coordinated communication served as early as 12 months before lease-end. With 50% of lessees re-leasing their current vehicle and 90% leasing new vehicles, the off-lease customer pool turned into the perfect target audience.

Tier10 continued to leverage its partnership with Equifax to create audience models and to identify conquest and same brand off-lease consumers with the highest statistical probability of upgrading to a new car. Recognizing that every dollar counts, Tier10 also enhanced the strategy by prioritizing suppression data and purging consumers lacking brand loyalty. This ensured Tier10’s clients had the most refined list of qualified customers to target.

As market conditions evolved, the strategy did too. Lease audiences were communicated with three to eight months in advance instead of 12. Due to its resurgence during the pandemic, Tier10 included QR codes on mailers to enhance target audience engagement. The campaign’s messaging shifted to emphasize customer service, tapping into the belief that consumers look to brands for support during uncertain times and reward those who meet their needs. Tier10 tapped into its expertise in data and digital to add additional frequency to its target audience. It also matched offline data to target consumers online through prominent touchpoints like OTT, Social, and Display.