Media-buying platform, Rocket Fuel, has been one of the proponents of the programmatic display age. It recently put some of the practical lessons it has learned towards helping Subaru build interaction with potential customers.

Traditional marketing usually identifies and exposes audiences that are most likely to convert. Rocket Fuel decided to take a different approach for its work with Subaru, by reaching those that conventional marketing might miss.

For the first time, advertising was specifically directed to car shoppers who were not initially considering Subaru. With the assistance of Rocket Fuel’s autonomy, it brought about significant uplift in dealer interaction with customers and a much higher conversion rate lift.

Strategy

Subaru partnered with Rocket Fuel for its artificial intelligence and big data-driven platform, which set out to maximise impact by showing ads only to audiences that would take meaningful action after ad exposure.

Rocket Fuel’s AI technology sifted through a multitude of data to identify which signals were positively predictive, negatively predictive or neutral, resulting in a smarter and more focused program.

Rocket Fuel optimized ads in real-time to audiences who could drive the most incremental uplift. This methodology differs from traditional approaches by identifying and exposing audiences that would be the most likely to interact, while simultaneously decreasing exposure to loyalists.

Results

One of the biggest benefits of Rocket Fuels work came about when from the car buyers that interacted with a dealer because they were exposed to ads placed by Rocket Fue. This demographic managed an 84% higher conversion rate lift versus those not exposed to an ad.

Middle-income consumers that fell between the ages of 25-44 ended up driving the most uplift in incremental dealer interactions. Additionally, advertisements shown during core working hours contributed the most efficient conversions.

Another interesting titbit to come out of Rocket Fuel’s work with Subaru was that consumers in the southern half of the USA were more likely to be new customers to the Japanese automobile manufacturer.

Feedback

“We worked closely with Subaru and Carmichael Lynch to determine not only the most relevant potential customers to reach, but also when and where to reach them for maximum results,” said George John, CEO of Rocket Fuel.

“Our platform performs autonomously, without any human intervention, to deliver the right ads to the right people at the right time. We were able to quickly identify the correct audience and successfully converted individuals who were not initially considering Subaru.”

“Uplift-based optimization maximizes impact by showing ads to only those people who will be influenced by them and take meaningful action after exposure,” said Brandon Miller, Senior Engagement Strategist at Carmichael Lynch.

“This methodology is in contrast to traditional approaches that show ads to people based on their absolute propensity to ‘convert’ (vs convert and interact after ad exposure). Most ad-tech companies simply measure lift. With Rocket Fuel, we’re focused on uplift optimization to drive incremental dealer interactions.”