Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

With more consumers owning HDTV sets and more stations offering programming in this rich format, advertisers should be rolling out more ads to make their products and commercials look their best. For a while, the costs and complexity to shift to HD were prohibitive. But that has changed and industry experts predict that more local and regional marketers will be making the move to the HD format.

Sixty percent of American parents whose teenage children currently hold a license and nearly half of all parents (46%) say that the economic downturn has led them to cut back on saving for or spending on their child’s driving, including the cost of a car and other related expenses, according to a new survey from Allstate. Among all parents, when asked what they would spend on a car for their child, 57% say they would spend $5,000 or less, and 41% would spend more than $5,000.

If Google executives have it right, U.S. consumers will be accessing as much information through their smartphones as they do through computers by the middle of next year. This leaves marketers in the position of scrambling to catch up with tech-savvy computers. For auto dealers, the race is on to connect with consumers through their smartphones.

Media companies and mobile marketing platform providers who gathered at the Borrell Associates Local Mobile Advertising Conference in Chicago this week, heard about the growing opportunity in the automotive sector. The good news is the automotive vertical market is growing quickly. The bad news is that competitors are entering the mobile space daily, competing to siphon off the flow of money that has been going to traditional media.

Last month, I blogged on several reports that projected a fourth quarter spike in auto industry advertising. A recent post in TV News Check suggests there’s reason for optimism in 2012. All three source of auto ad dollars – manufacturers, dealer associations, and dealers – should increase their spending next year.

Despite ever increasing gas prices, buyers still aren’t changing their automotive preferences when it comes to choosing a new car. According to AutoPacific’s new “Fuel Price Impact Survey,” many consumers still want trucks or SUVs, even in the face of higher gas prices than in summer 2010. While small cars promise high fuel economy, only 16% of respondents said they plan to purchase one for their next vehicle.