What If? Shaping a New Automotive Marketing Model

I was lucky enough to be invited by my friends at PointRoll (pointroll.com) to moderate a panel at the JD Power Automotive Marketing Roundtable yesterday.  As anyone who has ever read any of my blog posts knows, the topic 'Is the three tiered automotive marketing model obsolete?' was near and dear to my heart.

From left: Scot Cottick, Mike Dillon, Kristi VandenBosch, Ciaran Bossom,  Michael Brennan

The awesome panel (pictured above), while not agreeing on everything, seemed to agree that the three tiered model creates a painful disconnect between the brand and the customer that is most apparent at the dealership level.  They identified a need for greater collaboration in content development and data and platform sharing as the building blocks for a new model. 

After the discussion was over, PointRoll asked me to answer an open ended question...'What if?'. My answer was so lame that I've already forgotten it.

But, being around so many smart people yesterday gave me so much food for thought, that after feeding my brain with their inspiration, I've created a 'what if list' that begins to imagine how automakers can work with their dealer networks to accelerate innovation and develop cutting edge retail experiences:

1. What if dealer associations repurposed their advertising budgets to fund the development of common platforms and customer interfaces to facilitate a seamless, end to end brand experience across all geographies?
2. What if automakers redirected dealer incentive dollars to only support online transactions?
3. What if automakers and dealers looked outside the category to brands like Uber and Apple for ideas to inspire them to seamlessly move customers between digital and physical points of experience? 
4. What if automakers used technology to innovate their manufacturing processes to allow customers to pre-order and customize their vehicles at a guaranteed price and dealer margin?
5. What if automakers looked to travel and hospitality brands to develop programs that reward customers loyalty and tiers of vehicle usage with special perks and guaranteed trade in values?

While this list may not have all the answers, it seems that there is so much potential for technology to drive innovation in automotive marketing and experiences.  All it takes is a willingness to let go of obsolete practices, and take a leap of faith into the future.