“No super slow motion footage of trucks splashing through the mud. No cowboy hats, horses or hay bales, just a RAM 3500…“
In a new “Just the Facts” campaign for RAM Trucks, Sam Elliot extols for the brand and suggests that this campaign is not truck TV advertising as usual. The latter remains to be seen, but give RAM this: “Just the Facts: Job Site” launched on TV three weeks ago and has been the brand’s most effective TV spot for generating online activity this year, so far. The spot’s 9.4 effectiveness rating well exceeds the industry’s 5.4 average. iSpot.tv’s effectiveness rating is measure of a TV ad’s ability to drive online activity for the brand beyond the initial TV viewing.
Over the last year, RAM had not been getting as much online engagement for its TV investment, but the last three weeks demonstrate a trend change in the right direction. RAM is spending 1.5 percent of the category’s $617 million on TV advertising in October, yet the brand is generating nearly 2.5 percent of the category’s online activity. This is a marked reversal from the first nine months, where RAM spent for 2 percent of the category’s TV Share of Voice, but only netted .5 percent of the category’s online activity.
The brand’s early airing behind “Job Site” reveals that smaller buys on targeted programming drive the TV ad’s online success. The TV show “South Beach Tow” drove half of the online activity around “Job Site.”
A second spot in the new campaign, “Just the Facts: Fastest Growing Truck Brand,” (click to watch ad) aired only twice on Oct. 19 and Oct. 25 (once on the NFL and once on College Football), but its effectiveness online was limited and only at parity with iSpot.tv’s industry average. Comparing the two effectiveness ratings against each other (9.3 vs. 6.2) demonstrates why RAM might think it wise to put more time and money behind “Just the Facts: Job Site.”
The months ahead will reveal if the new campaign has legs, but the brand claims its TV advertising will not be business as usual. The early TV engagement returns suggest RAM is on the track.
Written by Joshua Ziliak