Automotive marketing relies on balance. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) drive innovation, brand equity and national visibility, but beyond the model launch it’s the dealers who bring the experience to life. When the two work in harmony, customers see a consistent message along the journey from awareness to purchase. When the OEMs and dealers aren't aligned, campaigns become confusing, budgets underperform and the brand experience – and ultimately the brand itself – suffers.
Finding the right balance between OEM and dealer marketing strategies means understanding where global direction meets local execution. To do this, both parties must collaborate, utilise content and data.
Let's dive deeper into the balancing act between OEMs and dealerships.
At one end are the OEMs. The OEMs drive national campaigns, manage global brand identity and set the creative tone. At the other end are the dealer networks, who activate campaigns locally, nurture relationships and turn awareness into sales. Both are crucial to the customer journey, but their priorities often differ.
OEMs focus on automotive marketing at scale – things like shaping perception, launching products and protecting brand equity. Dealers, on the other hand, focus on dealer marketing – things like local visibility, timely offers and customer retention. For both to succeed, there must be clear communication and shared goals – otherwise, OEMs and dealers can easily pull in different directions.
What might pulling in different directions look like? It could be a customer seeing a beautifully executed national brand advertisement that exudes luxury, then receiving a poorly executed leaflet through the letterbox. An inconsistent and fragmented brand experience, and a disjointed customer journey. All things that are unlikely to result in sales and, ultimately, growth.
To achieve that alignment, that balance, marketing is key. OEMs and dealer networks need a marketing framework that considers both perspectives - the OEM's need for consistency and the dealer's need for flexibility. Achieving this turns alignment into an advantage.
Successful automotive brands will tell you that when OEM and dealer marketing teams work together, everything feels more joined up – for the business, the customer and the brand. Here are some of the things this alignment achieves.
Done properly, this alignment translates that national brand ad seen by everyone to a local and more personalised experience with the dealer - on the forecourt, in the showroom and online. One layer of marketing means one consistent brand experience. If the OEM and dealer network didn't work hand in hand, the customer would instead be privy to two layers of marketing, resulting in an inconsistent brand experience.
Brand experience is undoubtedly important, but alignment between the OEM and dealer network provides significant operational benefits too. Budgets go further, because creative can pool assets, media spend and content resources.
Data also becomes much more powerful. When dealerships feed local engagement data back up to the OEM, the brand gains visibility into what works and what doesn't. In return, OEMs can provide audience insights, that help dealers refine their activity. This means smarter targeting, more relevant messaging and stronger conversion.
Explaining the importance of alignment between OEM and dealer marketing is the easy bit. Achieving this is the tricky part. Collaboration needs to be treated as a system, not an afterthought, and that system requires shared tools, a clear structure and open communication.
What's required is a connected marketing framework: a way for both central and local teams to plan, creative and activate campaigns together. OEMs need to provide the direction, content and assets and infrastructure that enable dealers to execute locally, while dealers need to feed insights back into the system so the OEM has actionable data it can work with in real time.
Of course all parties have to be willing, but even that's not quite enough. Technology plays a crucial role in enabling this alignment. Automotive brands are increasingly using co-marketing platforms or portals where dealers can access approved content, templates that can be personalised by dealership, all-important brand guidelines and even a calendar of brand-focused events.
Having all of this in a single place enables dealers to act quickly without going off brand. At the same time, central teams can get their hands on valuable use-case data, such as how many templates are being downloaded, which templates are being downloaded and when they're being downloaded. It shows which dealerships are truly collaborating and which might need a reminder of the value of the portal.
The dealerships will likely be appreciative of a co-marketing portal. They've been given a suite of on-brand assets that they can (ideally) personalise to engage with their local market. But for the OEM to know what sort of assets the dealer network will need, the OEMs need to hear from the dealer network. Rather than the dealers just being presented with a suite of assets, this should be the final step in a collaborative relationship, where the OEM learns what type of assets are most beneficial to the dealers and when they need them.
This is where customer insight from the showroom floor becomes exceptionally valuable, in ensuring national campaigns feel relevant when executed locally. This is easily achieved through regular workshops where the OEM and dealer network come together.
At Blueprint Partners, we're highly experienced in supporting OEMs in their alignment with the dealer network. Our expert teams understand the intricacies of each party and, crucially, what's required to bring them together to grow the brand and the business.
Get in touch with our team today to find out how we can help.