Haymarket Brands
Display Advertising: Influencing Car Buyers
What Car? sees car buyers at every stage of the purchase process: from drawing up an initial shortlist to helping them finalise a deal. Only What Car? allows you to influence the car buyer throughout their buying journey.
Online
Whatcar.com connects your business to new and used car buyers. We offer:
- A full range of targeted display advertising solutions;
- Online specials including microsite and advertorials.
Magazine
What Car? is sure to find you the exact advertising solution you require. You’ll find:
- Ads integrated with buying advice for each section;
- Not sure what you want to do? Call us and we will provide a solution.
Used Car Price Guide
What Car? Used Car Price Guide lists prices and reliability ratings for around 150,000 used cars. With us, you can:
- Target consumers in the market for a used car;
- Benefit from our full range of display and classified advertising opportunities.
Used Cars
What Car?’s used car functionality uses industry-leading technology, providing users with a simple yet effective buying experience.
Cars are purchased on a per ‘slot’ basis – when you sell a car, you can replace it with another free of charge, maximising your marketing spend.
- A relevant audience – you will be targeting the full range of prospective car buyers, from the less-well-informed consumer who needs whatcar.com to the car enthusiast of autocar.co.uk who influences the purchasing decisions of others.
- From research to retail – users are only ever one click away from used cars. Contextual linking through all our car review pages will only deliver you qualified car buyers with the knowledge and confidence to buy.
- To get your stock in front of two distinct buying groups contact the Dealer Sales Team on 020 8267 5746.
Magazine – the Buyer’s Guide
- The What Car? Buyer’s Guide, positioned at the back of the magazine, provides all the essential data and more for when a consumer is buying a car. Sections include: Accessories, Car Leasing, Car Supermarkets, Cars for Sale, Finance, Insurance and New Car Brokers.
- Integrated advertising – all adverts are placed in the relevant section containing specific buying advice from the editorial team providing a quick step from research to retail and providing you with in-market and informed buyers.
- Ease of use – each section is colour co-ordinated allowing the consumer swift access to the relevant section and to your advert time and time again.
- Added value – want to create more impact and further engagement with prospective customers? A dedicated special projects team can bring your company to life on the page via a range of advertorials.
To find out more contact the Retail Sales Team on 020 8267 5729.
Creative Solutions
What Car? is the UK’s biggest car buying monthly magazine. The online version, whatcar.com, is the ‘best of breed’ buying website with over 1 million unique users every month. By closely adhering to the What Car? philosophy of maximum clarity, MGSP projects always dovetail perfectly with these powerful information sources.
Cadillac CTS
Cadillac had a great new car to launch, but the company’s UK profile was so low it was practically invisible. The obvious place to launch the new CTS (and relaunch the brand in Britain) was What Car? magazine. The solution was a simple six-page portrait-format bound-in. By shooting the car in Haymarket’s dedicated studio, creating engaging copy in-house and getting the job right from the start – grasping the brief is a critically important part of the MGSP process – the project was turned round in record time. Run-ons used as mailouts and point-of-sale material were a cost-effective element in the car’s successful launch, along with an online extension of the project on whatcar.com. A bespoke website with an attention-grabbing URL was also created. 
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SEAT Alhambra
When SEAT asked for ideas to help launch the all-new Alhambra people-mover, MGSP’s creatives suggested approaching it from the kids’ point of view, given the fact that children play a surprisingly big part in the carbuying decisionmaking process. SEAT liked the idea, so a shoot was organised and an 8-page foldout bound-in produced using a brilliantly-integrated mix of photography and cartoon graphics. Tongue-in-cheek copy nicely reflected the visuals. The whole project, from the arrival of the car in the studio to the signing-off of the finished piece, took less than a week – an incredible turnround which incidentally enabled the bound-in to make a very cost-effective ‘bonus appearance’ in a special 372-page issue of Autocar. 
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Ford Fiesta ST
Ford wanted to launch a hot version of its popular Fiesta hatch. The demographics for What Car? and Autocar made both titles ideal launch vehicles. MGSP’s idea was to invite a cross-section of readers to a special driving day at Prodrive’s track in the Midlands. A reader recruitment process was carried out both online and through spreads and single pages in relevant Haymarket magazines. The response was excellent. Thirty readers (and many of their partners) turned up on ther day, which was structured around a series of fun tests. The resulting video, which ran online on both YouTube and Facebook and was produced as a boxed DVD, was testimony to the quality of the What Car? and Autocar readerships. The level of knowledge displayed by the readers was remarkable. There was no scripting, just a collection of off-the-cuff vox pop interviews. Very little editing was required as the readers delivered perfect soundbites all day long. The client was delighted by the package, which included an 8-page run-of-paper magazine feature. 
Key Facts
Magazine
Frequency - Monthly
Cover price - £4.99
ABC – 77,003 (Jul-Dec 2011)
Readership – 708,000 (Apr 2010- Mar 2011)
Website (January 2012)
Web visits – 2.768 million
Unique Users – 1.967 million
Page Impressions – 14.63 million
