The automotive industry has gone digital, with 95% of car shoppers these days relying on online resources to do their research. The automotive industry still counts on in-person experiences, though, since most shoppers will go to a dealership to purchase a car. For advertisers and performance marketers, this means that a positive buyer journey is essential.
In addition, only one in three potential car buyers know exactly what they want to buy, so marketers have a lot of potential influence on those undecided shoppers. Automotive marketing strategies generally include data-driven personalization, use of social and search, and strong creative to cut through user fatigue.
At Taboola, our Creative Shop in-house agency uses huge amounts of data from our Realize platform to identify trends, then build better creative accordingly and advise others. For the automotive industry, the team has uncovered best practices across copy, visuals, landing pages, and display ads. These include details on what type of imagery performs best, which headline topics are popular, and how to improve landing pages, all tailored for automotive marketers. Get all the details yourself in the Automotive Creative Playbook:
Download the 2025 Automative Creative Best Practices Playbook
6 Tips to Speed Up Your Automotive Marketing Performance
These are some of the essential pieces of a successful automotive marketing campaign, based on the latest trends.
1. Tell a Story
Successful car brands go much farther than just showing their products in photos or videos — they tell a compelling story that resonates with prospects and their lifestyle. That might include connecting the brand to travel, off-road adventure, or city life, in addition to highlighting a brand’s legacy to tap into nostalgia, if relevant.
2. Experiment With Photos and Copy
For automotive marketing in particular, Realize’s Creative Shop found that including a person in visuals leads to a 4% increase in conversion rate (CVR), and that avoiding text in visuals leads to an increase of 11% CVR. Test variations of your imagery to see if you can capture these gains as well.
3. Get Every Detail Right
Automotive marketers should make sure every image is current for savvy online users. Keep it natural, too, infusing authenticity with candid shots, real-life settings, and natural lighting. Strong colors can also help ads stand out to prospects.
4. Make Engagement Easy
Try some fun ways to compel users to learn more, such as with interactive, gamified, or quiz-based calls to action like “Find Your Perfect Model” for auto shoppers. See how you might incorporate immersive visuals, like large, high-quality hero images and videos.
5. Put the Car Front and Center
Car shoppers like to see luxury vehicle interiors, so include close-up shots of premium materials, sleek, modern dashboards, or other advanced features. Make sure to capture unique or new features (particularly when marketing electric vehicles), and incorporate movement wherever possible.
6. Encourage Interaction
For display ads, consider how you can bring audiences in with subtle motion or rich media designs, so users can engage with a click, hover, or swipe. In general, use elements of surprise and exclusivity in ads to elicit reader curiosity and urgency.
Key Takeaways
Automotive brands require top-notch creative advertising, with visuals and copy that can engage car shoppers throughout their buying journeys. Marketers and advertisers can take advantage of trends data that shows which ad details prospects respond to best, incorporating those tips into their own campaigns.
Download the 2025 Automative Creative Best Practices Playbook
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the best practices for ad creative in automotive campaigns?
While ad creative for automotive campaigns follows many of the best practices of marketing generally, there are some key areas of focus. High-quality imagery is essential for automotive ads. Visuals should be appealing, with the correct aspect ratio, and show cars in motion as well as their premium features. In addition, encourage click-through rate and conversions with special offers, particularly local ones, and make sure the mobile experience is seamless.
What are some effective creative strategies for automotive video ads?
Video is a great fit for automotive, since there’s so much movement to capture, and marketers can create successful videos by telling a human story. Automotive purchases are frequently driven by emotion, nostalgia, or a sense of the brand connecting with a driver’s lifestyle, so marketers can create engaging storylines. In addition, marketers can use interactive video features for more engagement and personalization, while AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) also work well for automotive.
What makes a successful automotive creative ad campaign?
So many factors go into a successful automotive creative ad campaign, and it starts with knowing the intended audience and the campaign’s goals. Use a multi-channel approach across digital, social, and more traditional options where appropriate. Tell a creative, unique story about the automotive brand you’re promoting to connect with prospects, and include an emotional connection where it makes sense. Finally, it’s essential to show off key features and benefits so users are fully informed as they’re researching vehicles.
