“On TV & Video” is a column exploring alternatives and challenges in superior TV and video. 

Advertisers all the time pay hundreds of thousands to advertise themselves through the Tremendous Bowl – however this yr’s massive recreation is especially aggressive.

Roughly 40% of manufacturers shopping for airtime through the Tremendous Bowl this yr are first-timers, and a few advertisers needed to pay as a lot as $7 million for his or her 30 seconds of high-profile model consciousness constructing.

However this isn’t Vroom’s first rodeo or, somewhat, its first Tremendous Bowl. The web used automotive retailer will make its second consecutive look with an advert that CMO Peter Scherr stated is purposely extra lighthearted than its spot in 2021.

“Final yr, we performed on the concept it’s ‘torture’ to purchase a automotive by a dealership, and that effort was actually profitable for us,” Scherr stated. “However we felt persons are prepared for a lighter tone this yr.”

The advert, impressed by Broadway musicals, incorporates a song-and-dance routine choreographed by “La La Land” choreographer Mandy Moore (no relation to the actress).

Scherr spoke with AdExchanger.

AdExchanger: What’s completely different about your Tremendous Bowl business this yr?

SCHERR: Final yr was an exaggerated look into the painful strategy of coping with the dealership to purchase your automotive.

On this yr’s spot, our objective is basically to remind customers that they might additionally promote their vehicles to Vroom simply as simply as they might purchase a automotive from our on-line platform. We’re utilizing a extra enjoyable, Broadway musical-style dance routine to painting the emotional curler coaster of promoting a automotive on a peer-to-peer community, from the excessive of discovering a purchaser to the low of being flaked on.

We’re resetting the tone on this advert to spotlight the worth that Vroom brings to individuals promoting their automotive.

Why promote through the Tremendous Bowl? 

At this stage within the adoption curve for on-line automotive shopping for, our fundamental rivals are literally native dealerships across the nation. The overwhelming majority of customers are nonetheless going into native automotive dealerships.

We need to promote on reside occasions just like the Tremendous Bowl as a result of we need to be within the consideration set of automotive patrons and sellers with respect to the place they’re at present going.

What makes your media technique distinctive?

We’re very attuned to seasonality inside the trade.

We’re centered on when and the way we must always map our spend to the degrees of demand that we’re measuring within the market, and our artistic message interprets into TV spots and digital and social efforts in a manner that actually is breakthrough.

We really feel that what we’ve developed for the Tremendous Bowl each this yr and final yr is basically breakthrough messaging. 

What’s Vroom’s general media technique?

We started promoting the model nationally in 2019. At first, we have been operating advertisements on linear and digital video, as a result of that’s the place we felt we might get probably the most environment friendly returns on our spend. We’ve expanded into different channels since then, however TV and on-line video continues to be our largest presence.

Is one medium extra profitable than the opposite for you?

Vroom will get the most important response with respect to measuring model elevate after we’re lively on linear.

Extra particularly, appointment viewing is especially high-performing for us. We’ve had numerous success with reside sports activities, particularly the Olympics and the Tremendous Bowl. Night information slots work effectively for us, too, so these are mainstays in our price range.

Will the shift to streaming change your technique?

We’re already lively in streaming, and it’s turning into an growing a part of our budgets. However we additionally produce other methods to get the model [message] throughout partaking content material, like podcasts and involvement with social media influencers. Anytime we see some traction, we plus it up.

We’re going to adapt our media plans and shopping for methods to the place the patron is headed – and we do see pockets of nice success in these different channels. However after we’re searching for the heavy viewers numbers, we nonetheless look largely to linear.

This interview has been edited and condensed.