WPP Media’s Adam Arnegger: Auto Brands Need To Address Zero-Click Search Now
RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CALIF. — The purchase funnel has become a loop. And AI is increasingly deciding which brands show up along the way. For automotive and travel marketers, that shift demands a dramatic rethink of how content gets built and how national and local budgets get managed.
Namely, it’s the issue of “zero-click search,” where consumers’ queries increasingly begin and end with an AI-generated answer instead of scrolling through infinite blue links.
“68% of searches don’t end in a click. You have to show up with content so that your brands are discovered because the answers are now being given by AI,” Adam Arnegger, client president and head of Automotive Investment at WPP Media, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at Beet Retreat LA. “That’s a very important piece as clients build out their content portfolio to be able to show up in those searches.”
The brands that build that content infrastructure most effectively will be the ones AI recommends. The ones that don’t will simply not appear.
National and local can’t stay siloed
Automotive OEMs have historically managed national brand investment and local dealer activation as separate budget lines with separate objectives. Arnegger argues that separation is now a liability.
“The brand owns the top, the retail owns the bottom, and you’re really trying to say, ‘Why buy here?’ The local dealers still matter, but the brands need to do a better job of building that through,” Arnegger said. “We’re in the process of building that through WPP Open.”
The model he describes keeps brand storytelling consistent at the national level while using AI to adapt creative based on inventory constraints and market conditions at the dealer level.
Tiers 1 and 3 are converging
Consumer research behavior is what’s driving the convergence of national and retail auto advertising. Buyers arrive at dealerships having already processed AI-generated answers to their questions. The brand that showed up in those answers has an advantage that no amount of local activation can easily overcome, Arnegger noted.
“The OEM that does it the best and converges both of those is going to come out on top,” Arnegger said.
In-destination is travel’s most underused moment
For travel brands, the in-destination moment is where the next purchase gets planted. Consumers who are already on a cruise, already on vacation, are mentally beginning to plan the next one. That’s the window Arnegger sees as most underexploited.
“It’s really about the in-destination moment and giving them inspiration for the next cruise and where we want those cruisers to come back. You have to inspire them during their in-cruise moments,” Arnegger said.
Content is the new search strategy
The same imperative applies across both auto and travel. AI tools are filling in search answers directly, and the brands that have built the right content are the ones that get included. Waiting for consumers to click through to a website is no longer a reliable strategy.
“The brands need to develop content so that the AI tools, Google, et cetera, are filling in those brands within the AI answer. The consumer has all of that right at their fingertips and they’re making the decision on what AI is telling them,” Arnegger said.
RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CALIF. — The purchase funnel has become a loop. And AI is increasingly deciding which brands show up along the way. For automotive and travel marketers, that shift demands a dramatic rethink of how content gets built and how national and local budgets get managed.
Namely, it’s the issue of “zero-click search,” where consumers’ queries increasingly begin and end with an AI-generated answer instead of scrolling through infinite blue links.
“68% of searches don’t end in a click. You have to show up with content so that your brands are discovered because the answers are now being given by AI,” Adam Arnegger, client president and head of Automotive Investment at WPP Media, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at Beet Retreat LA. “That’s a very important piece as clients build out their content portfolio to be able to show up in those searches.”
The brands that build that content infrastructure most effectively will be the ones AI recommends. The ones that don’t will simply not appear.
National and local can’t stay siloed
Automotive OEMs have historically managed national brand investment and local dealer activation as separate budget lines with separate objectives. Arnegger argues that separation is now a liability.
“The brand owns the top, the retail owns the bottom, and you’re really trying to say, ‘Why buy here?’ The local dealers still matter, but the brands need to do a better job of building that through,” Arnegger said. “We’re in the process of building that through WPP Open.”
The model he describes keeps brand storytelling consistent at the national level while using AI to adapt creative based on inventory constraints and market conditions at the dealer level.
Tiers 1 and 3 are converging
Consumer research behavior is what’s driving the convergence of national and retail auto advertising. Buyers arrive at dealerships having already processed AI-generated answers to their questions. The brand that showed up in those answers has an advantage that no amount of local activation can easily overcome, Arnegger noted.
“The OEM that does it the best and converges both of those is going to come out on top,” Arnegger said.
In-destination is travel’s most underused moment
For travel brands, the in-destination moment is where the next purchase gets planted. Consumers who are already on a cruise, already on vacation, are mentally beginning to plan the next one. That’s the window Arnegger sees as most underexploited.
“It’s really about the in-destination moment and giving them inspiration for the next cruise and where we want those cruisers to come back. You have to inspire them during their in-cruise moments,” Arnegger said.
Content is the new search strategy
The same imperative applies across both auto and travel. AI tools are filling in search answers directly, and the brands that have built the right content are the ones that get included. Waiting for consumers to click through to a website is no longer a reliable strategy.
“The brands need to develop content so that the AI tools, Google, et cetera, are filling in those brands within the AI answer. The consumer has all of that right at their fingertips and they’re making the decision on what AI is telling them,” Arnegger said.
