Ford and Holden ads top recall list

Latest research reveals 77 per cent of prospective buyers can recall a Ford ad, and 72 per cent a Holden ad.

The two brands top the latest Roy Morgan Automotive Currency research, which identifies car buying intentions over the next four years. Roy Morgan Research industry communications director Norman Morris says Ford, Holden and Toyota “remain the most recalled brands, although Toyota has declined by 5% points over the last 2 years.”

This week Toyota also lost its MVP crown falling back to second place in the ‘world's most valuable’ car brand rankings. The research indicates that Japanese brand ad recall has dropped due to forced cuts in spending for advertising and marketing.

Morris says, “with many of the Japanese manufacturers forced to cut their ad spend as a result of the March 2011 Tsunami & earthquake, it’s not surprising to see that ad recall for the Japanese brands is down across the board.”

Korean brands performed well in the study, with Hyundai maintaining a solid 59 per cent and Kia rising to 49 per cent. Volkswagen has been the major mover, jumping from 40 per cent in 2010 to 50 per cent in 2012, with 300,000 more people recalling a Volkswagen ad in this period. This pushes Volkswagen up from spot 11, to a tied 9 with Nissan.

Morris says with so many “automotive brands available to choose from, multiple new or face lifted models hitting the market each month and budgets tightening – memorable, targeted communication is increasingly vital.” The research suggests that if an automotive brand is spending millions of dollars on media, but is unable to improve their ad recall figure amongst their target audience; their message is being “lost.” 

The study of 5657 people was conducted by Roy Morgan Research, focussing on the 12 largest automotive brands sold in Australia.