Cars.com rebrands in new campaign

A periodic corporate branding campaign is absolutely necessary, according to Cars.com CMO Jennifer Vianello, and is something most consumer-facing companies rely on to remind customers they exist and reach new clients.
Cars.com is no exception. The Chicago company launched 25 years ago as an automotive marketplace platform and now boasts 28 million unique monthly shoppers. And on June 1 it debuted a new branding campaign, including a new logo, designed to move it beyond those early days and to help establish it as a varied consumer-focused auto services company.

The campaign timing is designed, in part, to mark the company's anniversary, but also to reinforce with consumers and dealer customers what it now offers.

"Most consumer-facing brands need to invest in their brand in this way," Vianello told Automotive News. "There is only so long that you can go without having an overt brand message before you start to lose your emotional connection to consumers."

Matthew Crawford, Cars.com's chief product officer, said two acquisitions are helping drive the rebrand.

Cars.com acquired automotive financial technology company CreditIQ for $30 million in November 2021, which enabled the launch of an open marketplace for automotive financing, with both consumer and dealer-focused pieces, including a finance-and-insurance component. About 10 percent of the roughly 20,000 dealers in the Cars.com marketplace have tested the product and it is now being more broadly introduced to consumers, a Cars.com spokesperson said.

The company's formal integration of Accu-Trade and its assets is also behind the rebranding effort, Crawford said. Cars.com paid $65 million for Accu-Trade in 2022, gaining vehicle appraisal and valuation data and logistics technology. It has used the platform to launch online vehicle acquisition capabilities such as its Instant Offer product.
Cars.com's branding campaign is dubbed "Possibilities" with the tag line "Where to next?"

Advertising firm Leo Burnett Worldwide Inc. produced three, 30-second spots showing consumers at different stages of life who need vehicles — all showcasing a shopper driving off a dealership lot. Plans call for the ads to run across network TV, social media and other digital venues. A Cars.com spokesperson declined to disclose what the company is spending on the campaign.

A substantial amount of focus group testing went into revising the logo and making sure it conveyed the right message, Vianello said. Cars.com used surveys that measured specific brand attributes and visual preferences for three potential logos, working with both consumers and dealers.

Cars.com surveyed customers and dealers about emotional responses generated by the designs with a goal of communicating emotional responses such as "energetic," "modern," "simple" and "transparent," Vianello said.

The broader branding campaign also went through a rigorous process.

"What we are trying to accomplish is maintaining our awareness and continuing the consideration among consumers of using Cars.com as their primary resource," she said.

Updating a brand can be a complex process. As companies age, they often need to refresh logos, slogans or tag lines to help address changing consumer needs, plus evolving markets, according to an online brand management course taught by Harvard Business School.

A brand refresh also can introduce a new direction to customers.

In January, for example, car dealership technology giant Reynolds and Reynolds Co. introduced an updated logo at the NADA Show in Dallas. The visual update was in tandem with Reynolds and Reynolds' effort to show it had moved away from inflexible customer service practices and toward a more customer-friendly future.

Regardless of company type, reinforcing brand identity — through a refresh, new logo, advertising campaign or other means — will always be an important task, Vianello said.

"Any large consumer-facing national brand needs to ensure that it maintains awareness, consideration and an emotional appeal for consumers," she said. "A brand investment is an investment in the future of our business and the future of our audience growth."