They jammed a lot of talking into the aptly named TalkAUTO Canada event, held Nov. 8 at the Toronto Congress Centre.
As one of the premier events for dealers, OEMs, suppliers and analysts involved in the auto industry, TalkAUTO continues to grow in attendance and importance since it launched in 2012. Organizers say more than 435 people attended this year.
“This year’s theme is all about customer engagement,” said Brad Rome, Canadian Black Book President in his opening remarks. The event is jointly presented by Canadian Black Book and J.D. Power. “Our customers are insisting on more and more digital communications.”
Expert presenters and industry analysts provided a broad spectrum of facts and opinions about changes impacting the auto industry.
“If you want to be relevant in this industry, you have to attend events like this,” said Alan Bird, President & Chief Executive Leader at SCI Marketview. “The attendance here is quite spectacular. It represents all the stakeholders in the industry.”
“We are doing an amazing job selling cars right now,” said Brian Murphy, Vice President, Editorial, Canadian Black Book, and one of the presenters. “The challenge with that is three to five years down the road we will have a lot of used cars. All those cars will put downward pressure on prices.”
Murphy says other issues to keep an eye on are long-term car loans, leasing that is now at double the levels it was at only 7 years ago, and rising household debt levels. StatsCan says Canadians owe $1.70 for every dollar of disposable income they have.
Doug Betts, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Global Automotive Division, J.D. Power, presented on “measuring customer experience in a digital world.”
Betts showed the attendees an example of an ad created by a typical agency, and another ad that scored better that was conceived of by a computer relying on data and analytics to set the creative direction. Automation is coming to the workforce and not just to manufacturing jobs, he says. “There’s another revolution coming,” said Betts. “It’s a wake-up call that computers are going to automate other jobs other than physical labour. We need to figure out how to co-exist with that.”
A high-profile group of dealers tackled digital retailing in a session moderated by Yves Varin, National Director, Business Development, Canadian Black Book. That panel included Shawn Morris: COO, Endras Automotive Group, Susan Gubasta, President and CEO, Mississauga Toyota, Ilya Pinassi, VP Operations, Parkway Motors Hamilton and Norman Hébert, Vice-President, Corporate Development, Groupe Park Avenue.
“Digital retailing is a big buzzword,” said panelist Shawn Morris. “It was a good discussion. We had different opinions which was good, because then we learn from one another.”
“If you continue to do what you do, then you continue to get what you get,” said Susan Gubasta. “You have to change and morph as the world around us is changing. With the digital world around us we need to adapt to how guests want to be treated.”
Tai said the auto retail industry needs to improve to match the experiences people have in other parts of their daily lives.
Larry Hutchinson, President and CEO, Toyota Canada, presented an overview of future mobility with a focus on autonomous vehicles. “I don’t think there’s ever been a better, more exciting time to be a part of the automotive industry,” he said. “Automated vehicle technology is going to revolutionize mobility — and transform society — in ways more profound than the move from the horse-drawn carriage to the Model T.”
Hutchinson said a primary focus for Toyota is safety, but other benefits of autonomous vehicles include fluid traffic flow, streets free of congestion and better mobility options for other segments of society. “Think about the life-changing impact autonomous vehicles will have on the millions of people who have mobility challenges: older people, people with disabilities and people who can’t afford their own car. In the future, they’ll have access to mobility we just can’t provide today.”
Peter Nagle, Senior Automotive Economist, IHS Markit Automotive, offered his insights on the marketplace, cautioning that the growth in vehicle sales in Canada was being fueled by an increase in consumer debt. “Some of those dynamics are going to change as interest rates rise,” said Nagle. “Five record years of growth in a relatively developed mature market is unprecedented here. Some pullback is going to be expected.”
“There’s a lot of debate around what digital retailing really means,” said presenter Andrew Tai, Co-founder and CEO, Motoinsight Inc. “It’s about pulling together better customer experiences that transcend online, and offline —and Tier 1 and Tier 3 — and making customer journeys seamless no matter which channel they are shopping on.”
Tai said the auto retail industry needs to improve to match the experiences people have in other parts of their daily lives. “Buying a car can be one of the most frustrating retail experiences for consumers,” says Tai, adding that dealers who get it right and provide “delightful” customer experiences will have an opportunity to shine.
The final keynote of the day, “Mobile Moves Metal” was delivered by Josh Bloom, Automotive Practice Leader, Facebook Canada.
Bloom described mobile phones as “the greatest marketing platform — ever.”
He said today’s mobile phone experiences represent the culmination of 150 years of mass media. “It’s all day, everyday,” he said, adding that digital has overtaken television as the most watched media on a daily basis — and just last year mobile overtook digital. “Search is no longer the entry point to the Internet,” said Bloom.
Yet, with all the focus on mobile, the creative industry hasn’t yet evolved quickly enough to provide good content. “Our thumbs are controlling our mobile moments of discovery,” said Bloom. “None of it matters unless you have really good creative.”
He said people process information a lot faster than people realize, citing an MIT study that found it takes humans only .03 seconds to process a thought, and it takes 13 milliseconds to process a thought from an image. “Even with the most complex things our brains can still move really, really fast.”
Bloom showed many examples of creative that was designed for other channels that didn’t play well in the mobile space or on social platforms like Facebook. He challenged the dealers and their creative agencies to rethink their approach to creative, so that the ads will perform in the new battleground of mobile devices.
