Mercedes-Benz & OMD Taiwan
Mercedes-Benz Drives Stronger Engagement and Lower Costs Than Its Existing Performance Channels with Realize
Mercedes-Benz Drives Stronger Engagement and Lower Costs Than Its Existing Performance Channels with Realize
- Up to 63% higher engagement rate than existing performance channels
- 2x Time on site compared to media mix
- #1 Cost per session across all media channels
Company
Mercedes-Benz Taiwan Ltd. (“Mercedes-Benz Taiwan”) is the Taiwan subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz, the globally renowned German luxury automotive brand with more than 140 years of automotive heritage and innovation. OMD Taiwan is part of OMD Worldwide, the world’s largest media network and a subsidiary of Omnicom Media.
Challenge
Mercedes-Benz needed to drive qualified traffic to their website for new car launches and sales campaigns, reaching potential buyers who would engage deeply enough with the content to move toward a purchase.
Solution
OMD Taiwan used Realize to run native ads for sales campaigns and rich media display ads for Mercedes-Maybach launches. They targeted high-intent buyers using Taboola 1P and 3P Marketplace Audiences and Search Keyword Targeting.
Results
Realize outperformed other media channels across both campaigns, delivering up to 63% higher engagement rates, 2x the time on site, and the best cost per session in the mix.
Introduction
Mercedes-Benz Taiwan Ltd., a subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz AG, was established in 2002 and has been dedicated to shining the 3-pointed star all over the island. With footprints across Sales, Customer Services, and certified pre-owned passenger cars and vans, Mercedes-Benz Taiwan has established a strong leading position in the luxury car market through its 9 authorized dealer partners. As part of its multi-brand strategy, Mercedes-Maybach serves as one of the sophisticated luxury sub-brands of Mercedes-Benz, representing the pinnacle of automotive excellence.
OMD Taiwan, launched in 1998, is part of OMD Worldwide, the world’s largest media network with 13,000 experts in 120 markets. A subsidiary of Omnicom Media, OMD Taiwan worked with Mercedes-Benz to drive quality traffic and deepen brand consideration through Realize campaigns across native and display.
Mercedes-Benz observes higher engagement through Realize ads, compared to other media channels
Mercedes-Benz runs campaigns year-round to promote new car launches and sales offers across its lineup, from entry-level models like the A-Class to its most premium tier, Mercedes-Maybach. The goal is to get potential buyers to the Mercedes-Benz website and engage users to a purchase. Their primary KPI is cost per session (CPS), and secondary KPIs include engagement rate and time on site, all measured using the advertiser’s source of truth.
OMD Taiwan was already running campaigns for Mercedes-Benz across search, social, and other media channels, but they wanted to know if there was a channel that could deliver higher-quality sessions at a more efficient cost. They started with a test budget on Realize, Taboola’s AI-driven performance advertising platform, which helps brands reach high-intent audiences and drive measurable outcomes across the open web.
The first campaigns ran native ads; editorial-style units with descriptions and CTA that appear within content on premium publisher sites. They supported sales push campaigns promoting offers like 60-month zero-interest financing on the A-Class. Ads drove users directly to model-specific landing pages where they could explore features, compare plans, and take the next step.
To reach the right buyers, OMD Taiwan used two of Realize‘s targeting tools. Taboola 1P and 3P Marketplace Audiences are first-party segments built from behavioral and contextual signals across Taboola’s publisher network. Mercedes-Benz combined multiple segments using AND logic to target delivery, layering interest signals to reach users showing specific luxury automotive intent. They also used Search Keyword Targeting, which reaches users who have recently searched for specific terms, connecting Mercedes-Benz with people actively researching vehicles.
OMD runs rich media display ads for Mercedes-Maybach on Realize
The native ad results convinced Mercedes-Benz to increase their investment. But for Mercedes-Maybach, their most premium and exclusive tier, the strategy was different.
OMD Taiwan ran display ads, banner-style placements served across Taboola’s publisher network, using rich media HTML5 creative in large formats. These high-visibility placements on premium publishers like Yahoo Taiwan gave Mercedes-Maybach full control over the visual experience. The display format, using HTML5 file type, allowed for animated, interactive creative that matched the brand’s positioning, featuring the Mercedes-Maybach all series in a cinematic treatment with a direct call to action.
Where native ads are designed to sit naturally within a content feed, display gave Mercedes-Maybach the prominent, unmissable placements outside of the feed the brand required. It was the first time Mercedes-Benz ran beyond-native formats on Realize, and it opened up inventory they could not access through native ads alone.
Realize delivers the strongest engagement and best cost per session in the mix
Realize outperformed search, social, and other media platforms across both campaigns on the metrics Mercedes-Benz cares about most: engagement rate, time on site, and cost per session.
Sales push campaigns (native ads):
- +63% higher engagement rate than other media channels
- 1 min 23 sec average time on site, nearly 2x that of other media
- #1 cost per session across all channels, reducing overall average media costs by 31%
Mercedes-Maybach campaign (display ads):
- +53% higher engagement rate than other media channels
- 1 min 30 sec average time on site, 2x that of other media
- 2.6x the impressions of other media channels
Across both campaigns, Realize contributed not just traffic volume but traffic quality, driving the kind of meaningful sessions that move potential buyers from awareness into active brand consideration.
Realize is now part of every Mercedes-Benz media plan in Taiwan and OMD Taiwan has already allocated budgets for upcoming 2026 campaigns on the platform. Mercedes-Benz is also exploring lead generation for test drive appointments through Realize, moving deeper into the marketing funnel.
Every channel we run has to prove it drives quality sessions, not just clicks. Realize outperformed our other media on time on site and engagement across both our Mercedes-Maybach and sales push campaigns. That's why it's now a core part of how we plan media for Mercedes-Benz.
- Brand & Communication Strategy, Mercedes-Benz Taiwan