I may be behind times but I saw this commercial for the first time last night. Not only is it a really good commerical, it seems that it benefits their dealerships more than themselves. Anyone else agree?
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Cars.com Wolf Commercial
- Thread starter ddavis
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# Summary Dealers debate whether Cars.com's Wolf commercial benefits or harms the automotive industry, with critics arguing it implies dealerships create unnecessary drama while supporters contend it portrays dealers positively and simply emphasizes the benefits of online shopping. A Cars.com representative chimes in to defend the campaign's intent to showcase dealers as helpful partners in a positive shopping experience. The thread ultimately reveals disagreement over whether the ad subtly disparages traditional dealership practices or simply promotes the efficiency of their platform.
- Sep 19, 2012
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- Big Tom
I love the creativity, BUT with one foot personally in a dealership and another in a vendor (CarChat24), I think it is an affront to dealers and the car biz in general. Carfax extorts dealers to pay them or they are "looking to deceive" customers, TrueCar almost went out of business making dealers look bad, and FOR ME, this continues down that path.
- Apr 7, 2009
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- Dec 30, 2009
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Tom,
In the Cars.com approach dealers at least have the choice to look good/bad depending on how they work the system.
Not that I agree/disagree with having reviews linked to a 3rd party site, but it seems that the rest of the world has added reviews to their merchandise (Costco, amazon, Nike, etc).
One big difference is that all those sites have reviews about the product and not the business itself. You can't actually rate (that I know) Amazon or Costco. Last year I asked in a seminar that Yelp gave to car dealers if there was a lace to rate Yelp itself (since almost all the dealers in the audience hated them and the Yelp guy gave a 'no comment' answer to every important question) and they said that you can in their particular case, you need to look for them in SF.
There is a distinction between car dealers and Costco/Amazon even though they also provide a service as a business, but customers seem to be less forgiving to car dealers. As we all know here we only control some things in life and business. We are a dealer--Toyota makes the car--but it seems that when something goes wrong we somehow knew it. When a Costco purchased product goes wrong you don't blame Costco's employee.
I found this similar to the 'speeding ticket court mentality'. If you even have time go to the local court house and seat to watch the traffic court cases. Almost 80% (you will be amazed that it is probably higher than that) of the people that go complain about a ticket talk about 'how mean the office was', or 'disrespectful, etc. People say that hoping that the judge will do something about it. Sometimes the judges are even meaner than the cops... sometimes they just don't say anything other than "pay the cashier on your way out"... sometimes they explain that if the cop was 'insulting' or 'disrespectful' that they can go to the police department and file a claim or complain, but right now what is a stake is the fact that you were speeding. The officers mood is not relevant to that.
I equate this somewhat 'entitlement' that a lot of people expect from the police to what they expect from the dealers and that is why I don't see a clear way for dealers to manage this (the most absurd and insignificant turn during the process turns into a negative review). That is why I agree that 3rd party sites should stick to what they do:
Showcase the inventory I pay you to carry.
In the Cars.com approach dealers at least have the choice to look good/bad depending on how they work the system.
Not that I agree/disagree with having reviews linked to a 3rd party site, but it seems that the rest of the world has added reviews to their merchandise (Costco, amazon, Nike, etc).
One big difference is that all those sites have reviews about the product and not the business itself. You can't actually rate (that I know) Amazon or Costco. Last year I asked in a seminar that Yelp gave to car dealers if there was a lace to rate Yelp itself (since almost all the dealers in the audience hated them and the Yelp guy gave a 'no comment' answer to every important question) and they said that you can in their particular case, you need to look for them in SF.
There is a distinction between car dealers and Costco/Amazon even though they also provide a service as a business, but customers seem to be less forgiving to car dealers. As we all know here we only control some things in life and business. We are a dealer--Toyota makes the car--but it seems that when something goes wrong we somehow knew it. When a Costco purchased product goes wrong you don't blame Costco's employee.
I found this similar to the 'speeding ticket court mentality'. If you even have time go to the local court house and seat to watch the traffic court cases. Almost 80% (you will be amazed that it is probably higher than that) of the people that go complain about a ticket talk about 'how mean the office was', or 'disrespectful, etc. People say that hoping that the judge will do something about it. Sometimes the judges are even meaner than the cops... sometimes they just don't say anything other than "pay the cashier on your way out"... sometimes they explain that if the cop was 'insulting' or 'disrespectful' that they can go to the police department and file a claim or complain, but right now what is a stake is the fact that you were speeding. The officers mood is not relevant to that.
I equate this somewhat 'entitlement' that a lot of people expect from the police to what they expect from the dealers and that is why I don't see a clear way for dealers to manage this (the most absurd and insignificant turn during the process turns into a negative review). That is why I agree that 3rd party sites should stick to what they do:
Showcase the inventory I pay you to carry.
Wow! I'm shocked that I am seeing something completely different. Coming from stores that used market-based pricing on both new and used cars, I found this helped the cause.
(customer) "shouldn't there be more back and forth"? (salesman) "Oh, you miss the drama, right"? ..out comes the wolf pup. "Get the right car without the drama".
Obviously, this is an ad for Cars.com but I don't see that it casts the dealer in a bad light.
(customer) "shouldn't there be more back and forth"? (salesman) "Oh, you miss the drama, right"? ..out comes the wolf pup. "Get the right car without the drama".
Obviously, this is an ad for Cars.com but I don't see that it casts the dealer in a bad light.
- Dec 30, 2009
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That might be Or by going through the internet, there is less drama.
- Apr 7, 2009
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Doug,
Thats the TV message message cars.com should portray... "shop at cars.com and find dealers with less drama"
woa... was that their message?
FAIL.
Last edited:
- May 22, 2012
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Linda Bartman at Cars.com here. I wanted to jump in, as we’re always interested in feedback from consumers and customers alike about our ad campaigns – positive or negative – so I appreciate the comments.
Doug, I’m happy to hear you like our new campaign. To your point, one of our goals was to be sure that we are portraying the shopping experience and interactions at the dealership in a positive light, and showcase the positive role that dealers have in that consumer experience. As you can see, in our commercials the dealers are helping consumers get what they need (a little fun drama!), and the consumers appreciate it! Our goal with the campaign has been to shift consumer perceptions around the shopping experience. And considering the average rating of dealer reviews on our site is about 4.4 out of 5, and over 80% are positive, we know that dealers are doing an incredible job in the dealership, and we can play a big role in helping close that consumer perception gap.
Doug, I’m happy to hear you like our new campaign. To your point, one of our goals was to be sure that we are portraying the shopping experience and interactions at the dealership in a positive light, and showcase the positive role that dealers have in that consumer experience. As you can see, in our commercials the dealers are helping consumers get what they need (a little fun drama!), and the consumers appreciate it! Our goal with the campaign has been to shift consumer perceptions around the shopping experience. And considering the average rating of dealer reviews on our site is about 4.4 out of 5, and over 80% are positive, we know that dealers are doing an incredible job in the dealership, and we can play a big role in helping close that consumer perception gap.
✨ AI Highlights
# Summary Dealers debate whether Cars.com's Wolf commercial benefits or harms the automotive industry, with critics arguing it implies dealerships create unnecessary drama while supporters contend it portrays dealers positively and simply emphasizes the benefits of online shopping. A Cars.com representative chimes in to defend the campaign's intent to showcase dealers as helpful partners in a positive shopping experience. The thread ultimately reveals disagreement over whether the ad subtly disparages traditional dealership practices or simply promotes the efficiency of their platform.
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