Auto Trader Embraces That New Car Feeling

Auto Trader, the UK’s largest digital marketplace for new, used and electric cars, is set to launch its largest integrated campaign to date. Created by independent creative agency Recipe, the new campaign comes with significant multi channel marketing investment, and marks a major revamp for the brand.

The ‘Found AT’ campaign aims to reappraise perceptions of the brand and make it as famous for New and Electric cars as it is for Used cars. With a considerable strategic overhaul, the campaign is driving big change in consumer perception, taking Auto Trader from a heritage brand to one that reflects its modernity.

This campaign aims to reshape perceptions of the Auto Trader brand through two objectives: first, to inform people that Auto Trader sells brand-new cars, and second, to modernise the brand.

While many still associate it with being a magazine, it has evolved into a powerful tech company - the second-largest tech company in the FTSE 100. Recipe has repositioned the brand by adopting the semiotics and codes of some of the leading players in the tech industry.

The platform ‘Brand New Cars Found AT’ has been launched to clearly convey Auto Trader’s unique proposition: Thousands of brand-new cars are available to buy online with no wait time, so you can have them immediately. The word ‘found’ as opposed to ‘find’ emphasises the success people feel when they’ve quickly and effortlessly secured the car they want.

The campaign consists of two parts. In the film ‘New Car Smell’, the campaign comes to life showing the different emotions people feel when buying a brand new car, expressed through that first new car smell. We see the relief, joy and pride people experience the moment they step into their new vehicle, their own personal enclosed sanctuary. Multiple emotions are conveyed to express that buying a new car is a journey in itself and we all have our own individual reasons to go on that journey.

The intimate, quiet and minimal filmic approach is intended to bring the viewer in as an observer of a very personal moment. The film goes live across TV, cinema, online video and social.

Alongside the film, a ‘red world’ has been created for OOH, social and digital. It’s a bold graphic visual identity that gives the brand personality through playful headlines and animations of cars. The red world allows the brand to be as impactful as possible whilst also showcasing the range of brand new and brand new electric cars available. It modernises the brand through its bold visual system that brings Auto Trader into a new contemporary space.

The media planning and buying is with The Specialist Works and spans TV, radio, cinema, OOH, social, PR and multiple digital platforms. It’s expected to reach 96% of all UK adults, 35 times on average across the campaign and will run until March 2025.

Camilla Ellerton, consumer marketing director at Auto Trader said, “As the UK’s number one automotive marketplace, we have the largest and most engaged audience of car buyers. However, we need to remind everyone that we offer more than used cars - we have the widest selection of brand new cars, available today and for every budget! Our new campaign aims to do just that by showing consumers who we really are inside Auto Trader in a bolder, more confident way than ever before. We’re absolutely thrilled to have worked in close partnership with one of the UK’s most acclaimed advertising directors Glenn Kitson and our partners at Recipe - a great team who have thought through every channel and created bespoke assets across the entire multi-channel media plan from TV to out of home, paid social to radio.”

Dan Jacobs, executive creative director at Recipe said, "So so so pleased with this. A monumental undertaking, in double quick time, over the Summer when everyone and their dog is in Majorca. Still we killed it, new look, modern af and Glenn Kitson and Iconoclast did the business on the TV."