Problem

A global automotive manufacturer's U.S. division was spending 60% of its $400M media budget on TV but had no way to objectively measure what each channel was actually contributing across the funnel. Without that clarity, the team couldn't answer the questions that mattered most: which channels build consideration, which drive purchases, and how do upper-funnel investments influence sales downstream?

Solution

The manufacturer deployed Marketing Evolution for 36 months of continuous media analysis, integrating top-funnel brand affinity data (YouGov surveys), mid-funnel web traffic, and bottom-funnel car sales into a unified view. Monthly scenario planning enabled ongoing fine-tuning of the media mix across TV (national broadcast, spot, and connected) and digital (display, video, social).

Insight

• Digital video outperforms TV on direct sales — while linear TV drove brand consideration effectively, its direct contribution to short-term car sales was under 10%. Digital video drove 4X more car sales than TV

• TV still earns its place — over time — TV's long-term brand-building impact contributed to 2.5% of total annual sales, roughly 12,000 vehicles out of 600,000 sold, justifying its investment through long-term returns

• Consideration converts — once consumers entered the consideration phase, 34% converted into buyers, underscoring the importance of upper-funnel investment in driving downstream sales

Results

• 50% increase in media spend effectiveness and sales contribution over 3 years

• 20% reduction in cost per acquisition

• TV reduced from 60% to 40% of spend with no loss in performance

• 34% of consumers who entered consideration converted to purchase

• 12,000 vehicles per year attributed to TV's long-term brand-building impact