Male Millennial, Gen-X Opps: AutoNation hires CMO amid YTD spend increases (Score 52)

Sales lead: This hire will likely lead to spend shifts & agency changes. 

• AutoNation announced Richard Lennox as its CMO, effective May 15th, 2023.
• Lennox joins from Macy's, where he served as chief customer officer.
• He will handle brand, marketing, & creative. 
• AutoNation's current marketing leader, Marc Cannon, will move into a new position and lead corporate responsibility.

**We are unable to confirm Lennox's email address until he officially begins.**

Target demographic: Gen-X & millennial men 

The company will likely:

• Continue increasing ad spend
• Shift ad dollars around 
• Review the agency roster/hire additional assistance

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: AutoNation spent approximately $626.1k on national TV ads YTD, more than double the $240.7k spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend equaled $1.3m in 2021 and $1.2m in 2022. 
• Ad programming: It placed ads during programming such as NBA Basketball, Jeopardy!, Inside Edition, KTLA 5 Morning News at 6, and Wheel of Fortune. 

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: AutoNation spent around $842.6k on digital display ads YTD, a 15% increase from $732k spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• YTD data: 87.8m impressions via YouTube (42%), Facebook (34%), Instagram (22%), and desktop display (2%). 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend doubled from $1.2m in 2021 to $2.4m in 2022. 
• Ad location: It placed 99% of these ads directly onto sites such as youtube.com, facebook.com, instagram.com, kbb.com, and nhl.com. It placed 1% of these ads indirectly through Google AdX+AdSense onto svtperformace.com

Additional channel insights  

• Vivvix: AutoNation also invests in OOH and local broadcast. 
• Top podcasts sponsored: Drive Time with Travis Wingfield. 

Agency analysis:

• Opportunity: Reach out now to be top-of-mind. 
• Current roster:
  • Zimmerman Advertising: creative & social AOR
  • In-house: media