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Kia, Nissan React to Slump in Electric Vehicle Sales

Kia, Nissan React to Slump in Electric Vehicle Sales

Could more advertising be the answer to sluggish EV demand?

Sales of electric vehicles are falling below their already slow pace due to cheap gas and what the industry calls range anxiety, the fear consumers have of running out of battery power before they can find a recharging station.

Could more advertising be the answer? Auto manufacturers already have spent billions of dollars on the development and introduction of electric cars, while slashing prices at the same time. Yet EVs still represent only 0.7% of the U.S. automobile market.

Through November of this year, Nissan has spent more than $400 million in TV advertising for its traditional-fuel fleet and $22 million for the rechargeable Leaf. It since has dedicated an additional $9 million on its new “Kick Gas” campaign, which began airing Nov. 3, shortly after EV sales began slumping.

Chevy has invested even less TV advertising in its extended-range Volt EV. With barely an estimated $2 million spent over the past couple of years, it appears Chevy has taken its campaign online with no fewer than 62 commercials viewable on its official YouTube page. “The New Freedom: Volt -- #The New” was published on YouTube in February. Since then, it has received just 87,000 views. Viewer comments can be summarized by this one: “Put this ad on TV! You should market the Volt so people know it exists and what it is.”

The exception is Kia, whose new ʼ15 Soul EV not only looks every bit the same as other Kia vehicles (sans exhaust-pipe) but has a comparable ad budget to match. With an estimated spend south of $15 million, Kia is advertising without the handholding and eco-preaching we have grown accustomed to from other manufacturers, and yielding far greater success.

The “Fully Charged” campaign already has gained an iSpot Ad Effectiveness rating of 9.7 in an industry where the average is a paltry 5.4. Ad Effectiveness is measured by the volume of digital and social activity, triggered by the ad campaign, divided by estimated spend as compared to all other campaigns on national TV. Even more enticing, “Fully Charged” has had some 5.5 million views on YouTube since it began airing in August. As the car becomes available across the U.S. in 2015, we can expect more electrified disco-dancing hamsters on our TV screens.

While manufacturers have cut the price of EVs to help spur sales, these figures show they also would do well to invest more in marketing these vehicles to reverse recent trends.

Considering eight states have mandated that automakers build zero-emissions vehicles in the coming years, EVs are here to stay. And by then, perhaps range anxiety won’t be a limiting factor. Unless of course it leaves the market spinning on a hamster wheel.

Sean Muller is the CEO of iSpot, the only company to track TV Commercials, Movie Trailers and Show Promotions across the top networks in real-time.

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