Marketing

Our CEO Johan Sundstrand and Sophie Birshan, Industry Head of Automotive at Google UK, recently took part in a panel discussion at AM Live.

In a wide-ranging chat that lasted 45 minutes, they covered everything from the marketing challenges facing dealerships to the practical applications of AI. Here’s four of the biggest takeaways to take into 2025 and well beyond…

Discover how the future of automotive retail is being transformed, with expert insights from Phyron's CEO and Google UK's Head of Automotive.

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In an election campaign which featured an assassination attempt, a last minute candidate switch and two extraordinary debates, you could be forgiven for missing out on Donald Trump’s plans for the automotive industry. 

According to reports, the future president doesn’t drive much any more. But as a former Rolls-Royce, Ferrari and Lamborghini owner, he’s taken a keen interest in cars in the past. He’s also become best buddies with Elon Musk - owner of Tesla - and he put time aside to visit car manufacturers in Michigan, during the campaign. 

While it’s unlikely to be as big a priority as immigration or the border, we can expect all things automotive to be pretty high on the ‘Make America Great Again’ agenda. Here’s what the industry might face in a second Trump term.

Explore how Trump's re-election could reshape the auto industry, from potential trade wars and tariff hikes to new tax breaks and relaxed environmental standards.

You’re a car dealer with over 100 cars in stock. In order to reach more buyers and maximize sales, you know that online advertising is a must.

But where should you advertise? And how can you promote 100+ cars in the most efficient way possible?

The answer is simple: Meta’s Automotive Inventory Ads

Meta hosts over 3 billion users on its combined platforms. Their huge user base, combined with their engagement data and smart targeting capabilities, make it the perfect place to advertise vehicles, especially on a catalog, or Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), level. 

In this guide, we’re going to introduce Meta’s Automotive Inventory Ads (AIA), why they’re powerful, and how to set them up. We’ll also provide tips for maximizing conversions, and how Phyron can help.

Let’s set the scene: You’re a car dealer with over 100 cars in stock. In order to reach more buyers and maximize sales, you know that online advertising is a must.

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A recent study from Boston Consulting Group revealed that out of 2,000 survey respondents, only half of car buyers were fully content with their recent purchasing experience. The biggest disappointment was the “awareness phase” when prospective buyers start feeling inspired to search for their next car. 

This highlights the need for improvements in the digital customer journey. Moreover, it translates to an opportunity for car dealers to get ahead of the curve by creating an exceptional customer experience that’s informative, convenient and memorable.

In this article, we’ll provide actionable tips for how to achieve just that.

If a car buying journey starts online, how can it continue at your physical dealership without any friction?

Creating a robust, omni-channel ecosystem that includes an informative website, social media channels, and responsive customer service is essential to creating a seamless customer experience–from online to in-store.

In a rapidly evolving market, adopting an omni-channel approach is a must to adapt to the modern car buyer, unlock new online audiences, and maintain a competitive edge.

In a sea of competitors offering the same vehicles at similar price points, how can your dealership stand out?

Hint: with your branding and how you present your vehicles. 

Starting with the basics, using real, actual photos of your stock is crucial. According to Kelley Blue Book, 90% of vehicle shoppers prefer viewing actual photos of new vehicles on the dealer's lot over stock images​​.

And why not incorporate the most popular format of all: video? A recent study by Google revealed that over 75% of auto shoppers were influenced by online video in their purchases​​. From an SEO perspective, advertising your videos on platforms like YouTube help expand your reach and drive even more traffic to your website.

What better way is there to enhance the customer experience than cater to individual needs and preferences? When car buyers are presented with relevant options and information, it’s more likely to lead to a purchase.

Meta’s Automotive Inventory Ads (AIA) are a perfect example of this. Their Machine Learning and AI personalize the customer experience by leveraging customer data and presenting active car buyers with relevant ads based on their online behavior, interests and geographic location. 

Following the release of Meta’s new Product Level Video (PLV), an extension of AIA, sellers can now advertise their entire catalog with engaging videos, rather than only images. For car dealers, it’s a no-brainer: they can advertise their entire inventory seamlessly and in multiple formats, while fully leveraging Meta’s vast user base and smart targeting capabilities.


Improve the Customer Experience with Phyron

Currently serving 3,000 auto retailers in 30+ countries, Phyron is the content-creating powerhouse for car dealers. The best part? It’s 100% automated.


With multiple showrooms and on-site photographers, there’s a slim chance that your images will look uniform and reflect your brand positively. We also can't ignore how expensive and time consuming manual photography and editing is.

That’s why we developed the Phyron Photo App. 

Its detailed guidance and intuitive support functions mean that your photos will be captured consistently and accurately every time–regardless of who’s taking them. Once your pictures are ready, our AI platform will automatically enhance them and add your branding, as well as custom backgrounds, flooring, lighting, and more. What used to take weeks now takes minutes.

Creating unique videos for each car in your inventory demands a huge amount of resources, but not with AI and automation.

Using only your simple data (car specifications and photographs), we can create an unlimited number of videos that highlight each vehicle's unique features and top selling points in the most engaging way possible. Phyron AI videos come in 4 formats for 18+ placements, ensuring that you have the right video for every customer touch point. 

By connecting to our API or through a feed, we’ll not only fetch your data and create your content, but publish it on every online channel in real time. Interested in advertising your entire car catalog with Meta's Automotive Inventory Ads? We’ve got you covered.



Ready to elevate your car dealership's customer experience? Contact us today to discover how our AI-powered solutions can transform your digital presence and drive more sales.


A recent study from Boston Consulting Group revealed that out of 2,000 survey respondents, only half of car buyers were fully content with their recent purchasing experience.

MEET JULIUS F GARRIDO, professional photographer, visual AI aficionado and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu enthusiast in Denver, Colorado.

Hi Julius. Photography is a very personal, often emotional art form, as I’ve also seen in many of your pictures. In that context … What does Artificial Intelligence, AI, mean to you? 

”Yes, it’s personal and it’s art, but it’s also a business, and AI is an essential part of my work flow. I use it in my post production to enhance image quality and streamline editing processes. Sometimes, depending  on the job at hand, I also use it to achieve creative effects, for quick removal of backgrounds, noise reduction, and so forth.”

”In recent years AI has done positive things, both for my business and to reach my artistic and creative goals. It has positively impacted my business handling mundane tasks like detailed editing. Saving a lot of time and allowing me to focus more on the creative and business aspects of the work.”

Tell me something about your images and your clients … what kind of pictures do you do? 

My main focus is on events, weddings and family photography. Creative portraiture is a passion of mine. And street photography! I always bring my camera when I travel. 

So … where do you think AI will go from here? What would be the next level in your line of work?

”Personally, I am looking forward to new AI developments in real-time enhancement … like changing the lighting or experimenting with alternative backdrops when you’re taking the pictures. That would not only save a lot of time but also give more room for creativity. I would be very excited about that.”

I’ve got to ask … What’s that thing about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? You’re not from Brazil … 

”No, no … born and bred in the Philippines, I came to the US seven years ago. Brazilian is a special form of Jiu Jitsu focusing on leverage, weight distribution, and ground fighting. It is often a favorite for people of limited stature.

”I first enrolled in a Jiu Jitsu class in the Philippines many years ago, but made a break after an injury. Now I’m spending a big part of my leisure time at the nearest BJJ gym, Gracie Barra Denver. 

”Like with photography it calls for a lot of patience … which I’m honestly trying to work on. And, also like photography, the difference between failure and success is in the super-small details.”

Julius Garrido, Studio MOD Photography, Denver

”Yes, it’s personal and it’s art but it’s also a business.” says Julius F Garrido

The jiu-jitsu photo artist

Remember the days where you needed to publish an individual ad manually? For a car dealer with 100 cars in their inventory, that was a painful task. For 1,000+ car listings, forget about it!

Thankfully, Meta has removed all that friction with their Automotive Inventory Ads (AIA).

In this article, we’ll uncover what Meta’s AIAs are, introduce their latest generation of catalog ads, and share how you can solve the “unscalable challenge” of content production.

Let’s dive in!

Automotive Inventory Ads are a catalog-based solution on Meta that lets car dealers advertise their vehicles on an inventory, or Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), level. 

This means that they can market their entire fleet of new and used vehicles effortlessly with information including make, model, year and mileage. 

Through engagement metrics and the Meta Pixel, car shoppers are targeted (and retargeted) with a selection of vehicles that match their interest and geographic location. When people click on an ad, they’re redirected to your vehicle detail page on Meta or on your website.



Traditionally, Automotive Inventory Ads were limited to still images. But as of January 2024, this has been expanded to include video with the launch of Meta’s new Product Level Video (PLV). 

Why does PLV matter, you ask?

Because video is king! 

In fact, 82% of time on social media is spent consuming video. Internal studies from Meta have shown that combining images and video together can grow conversions by up to 48% compared to images alone. 

The winning formula is using multiple media formats within your Meta ad campaigns. And now, Meta gives advertisers that option by enabling “Dynamic Media” for your inventory ads. 

Activating it allows Meta’s machine learning to automatically optimize your ads by serving an image or a video ad to a car buyer based on what is most likely to convert.  


Creating a unique video and studio-quality image for each car in your inventory sounds great, but how is it possible for a hundred – or thousands – of car listings?

The short answer: AI and automation.

Founded in 2019, Phyron works with 3,000 automotive retailers across 27+ countries. Our AI platform transforms simple car inventory data (photos and car specifications) into AI-enhanced still images and automated videos. 100% automated with zero human input.



Phyron is perfectly positioned to help car dealers make the most of Meta’s Automotive Inventory Ads, including their new Product Level Video.


Create thousands of personalized videos within minutes. We’ll automatically create 4 video variants for 18 placements, including Meta’s Stories, Reels and Watch. Customize your videos hundreds of ways with custom design templates, fonts, logos, currencies, Call-to-Actions and so much more.


2. AI-enhanced stills for a consistent look and feel

Elevate your brand recognition with consistent, AI-powered imagery of your entire car 
inventory. Professional, studio-quality images with automatic background removal, 
replacement, resolution upscaling, and vehicle resizing and repositioning.


3. Paid ads that are fully automated and always on

Our API automatically fetches your existing data (car specifications and photographs) to produce your engaging content. We’ll then connect to Meta’s feed to publish your image and video ads automatically. We’ll even update your listings when a car is sold!


AI and automation are making strides in automotive retail, and Phyron is at the forefront. We’re enabling car dealers to scale and streamline their ad content production to take full advantage of Meta’s Automotive Inventory Ads, improve efficiency, and ultimately grow car sales.

Optimize for conversions with branded, engaging videos and studio-quality images of each car in your entire catalog. You don’t need a video marketing team, just Phyron.

Request a demo now to find out how Phyron can support your AIA strategy.

Remember the days where you needed to publish an individual ad manually? For a car dealer with 100 cars in their inventory, that was a painful task. For 1,000+ car listings, forget about it!

The landscape of digital advertising is continuously being shaped by transformative waves, each heralding new platforms and strategies that redefine engagement and ROI.

THE FIRST WAVE, marking the advent of automated always-on campaigns, was embodied by sponsored links. This innovation laid the foundation for targeted digital marketing, resulting in substantial growth.


THE SECOND WAVE was defined and characterized by image ad campaigns across networks, media sites, and social platforms. Capturing the attention of a wider audience with its elevated visual appeal and strategic placement.


Today, we are facing THE THIRD WAVE. A much bigger wave, bringing more dramatic change for product advertisers. A groundbreaking new era where always-on product level video campaigns across all platforms are set to redefine market engagement and competitive strength.  


This (r)evolution is not merely a shift in format or platform but a transformative approach to how products are presented, experienced, and interacted with in the digital space. Leaving any slackers in the dust.

To contextualize the scale and potential of this new wave: digital ad revenues escalated by 78% over three years, reaching an impressive $667 BILLION in 2022. The new frontier in digital advertising promises not only to enhance brand-consumer interactions but also to set new benchmarks in campaign effectiveness, cost/benefit ratio, and consumer engagement.

The third wave of always-on product level video campaigns is not just a progression but a true revolution, setting the stage for unprecedented engagement and innovation. 

Imagine the immersive precision of digital targeting, combined with the immersive power of always-on video campaigns. Crafting a whole new level of consumer experience and interaction.

This third wave, pioneered by Phyron, represents a significant shift in how brands and retailers will connect with consumers in the years to come

Mattias Kellquist
Founder, CBDO

The landscape of digital advertising is continuously being shaped by transformative waves, each heralding new platforms and strategies that redefine engagement and ROI.

The third wave of always-on product advertising

In January 2024, Meta announced its new, exciting format for inventory ads: Product Level Video (PLV). We sat down with our Marketing Specialist, Daniella, to learn what all the buzz is about and what it means for auto retailers.


1. What are the most reliable and updated facts about social media advertising vs other online channels? I mean in terms of ROI and effect in comparison with other media alternatives?

Social media advertising and other forms of advertising aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s important to hit all your customer touch points. With nearly 5 billion users, we can agree that not being on social media would be a huge disadvantage. Not to mention, machine learning on platforms like Meta has come a very long way. Their algorithms are constantly evolving to deliver the most relevant ads to the right users, at the right time.

2. What's this new thing that META and others call PLV… Product Level Videos? 

Up until now, advertising on an inventory level on Meta was limited to still images but with Product Level Video, this has been expanded to include video. For auto retailers, PLV is the next generation of Meta's Automotive Inventory Ads. Car dealers can advertise all their cars on a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) or Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) level.

This is great news because we already know that video is king. It's the most engaging format and it helps in differentiating ad creatives. Internal studies from Meta found that combining images and video in ad campaigns led to 17% higher conversions compared to images alone. 

3. Creating videos on an inventory level sounds... complicated. Am I right?

Exactly. Scalability is the hardest part in all of this. How can you create a unique video for every single product in your inventory? For auto retailers, they have Phyron. Our AI and automation can produce thousands of video ads within minutes, zero manual work required. All we need is access to their existing data – their car specifications and photographs – and our technology does the rest.

4. What about formats? Can I use the same PLV formats for Facebook and other social channels?

You can use PLV across all of Meta – Reels, Feed, and Stories – on both Facebook and Instagram.

5. Are there standardized PLV video lengths? What lengths are proven to be most effective and cost effective?

You want to get your message across in the least time possible, ideally no longer than 10 seconds. More specifically, within the first 2 seconds, you want to catch your audience’s attention. Within 3 seconds, you want to generate interest. And within 5-6 seconds, you should already have a Call-to-Action.

6. What material do I or my ad agency have to produce and deliver?

For those already advertising their cars on an inventory level, they’ll now have the option to add a video URL to their catalog ads. The main question is how can you scale your video production in the first place? We work with car dealers and digital agencies to do exactly that. We not only create the videos, but host and publish them through our API. This isn't limited to Meta, but also our client websites, online marketplaces, and other social media platforms like YouTube.

7. Ok, what if I have a really large number of unique products… like a thousand cars of different brands and specifications?

Let’s face it, video production is arduous. Creating a thousand unique videos manually for all your cars is simply not doable in terms of time and money. That’s where AI and automation come in. At Phyron, our API automatically fetches the existing data of our customers (their car images and specifications) and can create thousands of video ads from this alone. 

8. Can I customize my videos to highlight the unique selling points for each video ad? What about branding?

100%. Our AI-automated videos are fully customizable – clients can choose which angles and features to highlight. They can choose different design templates, fonts, colors, logos, currencies, Call-to-Actions and so much more. There are hundreds of ways to customize, even when advertising on such a huge scale. 

9. If I want to combine AI automated video production and publishing it via PLV, is there a minimum budget to explore this new way of working? And, what’s the first step?

For the AI video production part, our pricing is based on volume, or the number of cars a dealership has in their inventory. We’ve worked out that for the price of a cappuccino ☕️ (per car), dealers can create a video ad for each car in their catalog.

If you’re in auto retail, signing up for Phyron would be the first step in scaling your video production. In terms of your ad budget on Meta, there is no additional cost for including video as a format but you do need a sufficient budget to compete in Meta’s "ad auction". 

If you're interested in running PLV ads, the best time to get started is yesterday. As this is a brand new feature, there's a huge opportunity to stand out from your competitors on Meta. Get in touch with our team to find out how Phyron can help you scale your video production! 

Digitalization, online advertising, automation… when changing human behaviour and business practices reach a critical mass, it can happen very fast. Seemingly getting a life of its own. Accelerating beyond anybody’s wildest expectations.

In spite of the ominous word ”tipping”, accelerating change can be a good thing. Like the rapid implementation of new and better solutions to costly, time consuming problems.

Launching the Tipping Point Theory in 2000, the acclaimed Canadian journalist and author Malcolm Gladwell described the three rules of rapid unexpected social change. Three rules of ”sociological epidemics”, consumer behaviour included.

1. The Law of the Few — an epidemic begins with a few, highly infectious individuals. And a social megatrend begins with a few individuals with exceptional influence. Which may be based on their standing in society, new and superior knowledge or insight, and charismatic, trendsetting consumers.

2. The Stickiness Factor —the innovation spreads when the contagious phenomenon (like a better solution to a recognized problem) is sufficiently unique and attractive. Brings positive functional value, excellence, etc to hit many people’s sweetspot.

3. The Power of Context — consumers are ”contextual chameleons” (Wow, big words!) and tend to ”adopt your product to fit their environment”.

Yeah yeah … sounds like borderline psychobabble to me but … something about the importance of attractiveness and scarcity, and using people’s natural herd. Anyway …

If you are in car retail — especially marketing and sales management — you have seen how change often leads to more change and other changes. Electrification requires a different mix of services ... maybe rethinking pricing and valuation. Digitallization has paved the way for new business models and new competition. Consumers’ new media habits demand different kinds of advertising. And so forth.

Now thousands of competitive dealers outperform their slower-moving rivals by advertising ALL their cars 24/7 in online media with superior reach. Radically cutting costs and time-to-market with fully automated internal processes.

Introduced five years ago, this way of working is spreading like an … ”epidemic”. And, entering 2024, automated video advertising is really going viral. 

Look out! The tipping point for car advertising is near

Car ads at the tipping point

Digitalization, online advertising, automation… when changing human behaviour and business practices reach a critical mass, it can happen very fast. Seemingly getting a life of its own.

"Your customers don’t need more noise, they need filters"

No, I didn’t create that brilliant line, I found it on Daredevil PR's website. (Thank you Inna Gogol for unknowingly leading me there.) It’s a great reminder for all of us, facing yet another young and noisy media year.

The logical next question is of course: Which filters? And, from an advertiser’s point of view, how do you bypass them? Reaching through to your intended audience in a positive, meaningful, respectful manner?

The ridiculously easy answer: You present what the intended buyer wants to know. In the most attractive and engaging way. Easier said than done, though.

As consumers we are all aware of the info-smog surrounding us around the clock … 99 percent of it is totally irrelevant to us. So we instinctively filter out anything that we don’t recognize as applicable and meaningful to us.

Therefore, relevance is more important than anything else to bypass the potential buyer’s first line of defense … the first, all-important filter. More important than ”creativity” and budget size.

From that point of view, traditional used car ads are actually quite OK: Show the product, list the basic facts.


The problem … no, the first problem is the boring, static, low quality of the presentation. The ad doesn’t catch the eye of the browsing buyer. Or grow the appetite to find out more. Or indicate a trustworthy, quality-conscious dealer.

The second problem is about volumes. The most effective way to sell has always been personally, face to face. Because it’s live and interactive. Responsive. If we could only afford it throughout the often long and winding buying journey.

The next best way is by video. That’s why more than 80 percent of online traffic is video-driven these days. But video production is notoriously time consuming and therefore expensive, too.

The third and biggest challenge for a used car dealer is that every vehicle is unique, and generic videos do not promote the very details that would attract the right buyer of each specific car. Customized videos would be ridiculously time-consuming and costly, even for new cars, considering all variables. With hundreds or thousands of cars in stock — forget it. Unless …


You’d better believe it. Thousands of dealers and dealer groups in 25+ countries are using it, reaping the benefits … leading the way through the new, highly competitive automotive landscape.

Beat the info smog and sell more cars faster. Welcome to 2024.

Rolf Andersson
Phyron Writer and Editor

Technically and visually, the world’s used car retailers lead the way in consumer goods advertising.

The hottest retail trend 2024

Saturday morning, so no time for the serious stuff … or, what can be more serious than a businessman in a coat and tie with a classic Windsor knot? But ... seriously? What have we men been up to since the fashion-conscious French fell in love with the way the Croats tied their scarves during the Thirty Years war ... way back in the 1700s? I can think of at least six good reasons to ditch it for good.

COMFORT : There’s a reason why the first thing you do when you enter your personal zone is ripping off or loosening your neck tie. What if you could keep that feeling 24/7?

ECONOMY : If you enjoy a meal and happen to spill food, make sure to spill it onto a totally meaningless, yet ridiculously exclusive piece of silk that cannot be washed. Or skip the habit right now, and save a small fortune.

INTELLIGENCE : So, when you go to work … expected to make all those smart decisions … performing at 100% … avoiding mistakes … you take a piece of cloth around your neck and cut off the stream of oxygen into your brain?

PERSONALITY : Are you using a selection of smart-looking, predictably boring neckties as a uniform to qualify in a community of equals? There is a reason why many people in creative professions ditched them decades ago.

THE AGE THING : I have not seen any serious stats about it, but I bet more young people than old people have skipped that useless, uncomfortable, uneconomical, unintelligent, and impersonal thing.

CHRISTMAS : wouldn’t it be nice to get something less predictable for Christmas, birthdays, or Father’s Day?

Honestly now … Did you ever see Santa wearing one?

6 good reasons to ditch the necktie

Change is your new business-as-usual. Go with it.

Where do we get our daily dose of information to inspire new initiatives and ideas? Increasingly via ever-changing online media, platforms, and forums.

Where do we seek, find, evaluate and buy the products and services we need and want? Inceasingly in ever-changing distribution channels.

How do we communicate with others, and how do we process the information that we receive? Via ever-changing digital solutions and services.

How do we take all this one great leap further? By extending our own unrivalled brainpower with unthinkable processing power and unthinkable masses of information. AI.

Change, adaptive Change, accelerating Change is the new normal. The future remains an elusive moving target, but we still strive to get there first.

Throughout the past 50 years, our lives and work have undergone radical and never-ending Change.

From neighborhood stores to supermarkets to online shopping;

From typewriters, calculators, analog newspapers, and landlines to mobile multimedia gadgets and video chats.

From hardware to software to subscribed SaaS.

And now … AI automation with greater disruptive potential for accelerating, disruptive Change than anything before.

Change is energy and imagination. Change means always looking for, trying for better ways. Change brings new opportunities, makes your job more educational and interesting. The pace is accelerating. And each new wave of Change brings new opportunities for open-minded sales and marketing people.

Change is for leaders

Uncover the secrets of dealer success. Here's a guide to the bigger picture.

The new multitude of business data and online alternatives makes it rather tricky, even for professionals, to optimize your media spending. If you are attempting to do it on your own ... forget it! The new realities are way too complex to even consider a conventional Excel spreadsheet.

According to Tina Sadeghi, Head of Customer Success at Phyron AI: "Whether your objective is to scale your digital marketing, or simply get more bang for the digital buck, you need to look at the bigger picture."

1.   Your inventory — If you really want to make a difference on the bottom-line, you need to consider the sales performance for every single car in stock. Be it a hundred cars or 20,000 of them in a dozen locations. Every vehicle counts.

2.   Your potential buyers –­­ today you have better possibilities than ever to reach each one of them where they are. When THEY are ready to take a first step on their buying journeys.

3.   Your ads — Honestly now ... in terms of impact and cost-efficiency, conventional dealer ads suck. They don’t stand out in media; they don’t address the buying motives of specific buyers in the first few seconds; they are visually bland and anonymous; they don’t build the dealer brand; and emotionally … they are as engaging as a can of beans.

4.   Media buying — the world of auctioned media space is new. The fact that the odds for hitting the right car buyer are much better online than in traditional media is recognized by most people. But WHICH online media, and HOW?

5.   The process — How many hours a week do you and your team spend creating, administrating, and publishing ads? How long does it take from photographing every incoming vehicle to displaying it where potential buyers can see them? How does all that time affect your total selling costs? What does efficiency and scale mean for your business? How often do you measure the LTV (Loan to Value Ratio) for a future-proof marketing strategy?


Tina Sadeghi again: "That’s your new reality. Now, let’s talk about what you can do about it. Let’s talk about Phyron AI and their real-time, real-dealers fact finding expedition … routinely gathering and analyzing data from some 500,000 online video ads every day. Solid insight based on the experience of 2,500 dealers in 25 countries every month of the year."

Now, rapidly approaching 2024 ... where do you go for solid reality-based media advice?

Let's uncover the secrets of dealer success.

To win big you need to see the bigger picture.

Scale your dealership wisely

When your buyers want to know …
The educational aspects of Sales and Marketing are often neglected in favor of more … well, commercial expressions and messages. It sort of comes with the territory.
Images and video are rightly and frequently celebrated for their emotional and persuasive power, but can be outdstanding educational tools, too.

CUSTOMERS’ QUEST FOR INFORMATION
"Educational”, as in informative and easy to grasp … guiding the buyer through rich and complex specifications. Technical details, functions and features relating to performance, economy, safety, environmental impact, and other vital parameters.

That’s a pretty tall order, but every little effort counts. Not only for the deal at hand — a generous approach to information and guidance can be a vital aspect of dealer branding, too.

One frequently discussed issue in the academic world these days is (you guessed it) artificial intelligence. Another hot issue is video. Unlike AI, the academic and commercial benefits of Video have been recognized for ages. Video combines visual and voice presentation of complex realities, and the combination of AI automation and Video can be extremely powerful.

Car dealers around the world deal with these issues every day. Many buyers find it difficult to navigate the specifications of each car. A very human and thus universal challenge:
”Customers, especially our older guests, have informed me that they find the car videos very helpful in their quest for information,”says Thomas Gandolfo, Inventory Acquisition Specialist at Policaro Acura in Canada.

VISUAL CLARITY AND EASY OVERVIEW
Delivering informative car videos as a fully automated, easily affordable service to several thousand dealers, Phyron AI vldeos effectively reach millions of potential buyers every month.

”The combination of visual clarity, easy overview, and voice-over should please any teacher,” says Tina Sadeghi, Team leader of Customer Success at Phyron. “Better informed buyers means better business and happier dealers. Win-win.


Educated buyers make happy, loyal customers.

Teach your customers right

Why do so many people only see AI as a cool toy to twist reality beyond recognition? Why do popular media focus on the bad guys manipulating existing text and images for outright criminal reasons?

That’s so sad, so negative, such a waste of a good thing.

Let’s talk about AI as a way to enhance reality; demonstrate, dramatize, clarify what you see; To turn loads of features and specs into a meaningful, attractive whole. To engage more buyers with great images and stories every time.

Let’s talk about AI for AUTOMATION. Industrial automation has been around for decades, revolutionizing productivity, processes, quality control, safety and overall economy. Automation of customer guidance, administrative routines, international trade …

Let’s talk about automation in marketing, sales, and customer support. Presenting every single product in stock to every potential buyer wherever and whenever they are in the mood. Addressing every conceivable buying motive, the way they prefer to get it.

It’s real, and it's happening now. A powerful wave of business innovation involving millions of real companies, reaching billions of real buyers around the world.

In the automotive business, used cars are becoming more important. Eight out of ten buyers prefer to get information about them through video. With automated always-on AI video, you can promote each unique vehicle 24/7 with the same loving attention to detail as you would do with a brand new prestige car.

There are virtually no limits. Whether you have 100 or 10,000 cars in stock, simply plug in to the online service. Each one, all of them get a premium presentation on your website and on external marketplaces. Now also as premium Paid-ads with sound and voice-over on Meta and YouTube. You choose a design in tune with your brand and set a budget, we fix the rest. It works like a dream.

It’s so easy, it sells the cars faster at lower costs, and there are no negatives whatsoever - no capital investments, no extensive training, no risk, no intrusion into your existing IT systems, no lock-in clauses … If you have questions, simply ask. But, whatever you do … don’t be late to the party!

Phyron creates, manages and publishes your video ads on online websites, marketplaces, and paid ads in world leading social media. 100 percent automatically in minutes. Thousands of car dealers reap the benefits every day. And we have only just begun.

Energize your inventory

I get frustrated when people don’t get it … don’t seem to understand the REAL potential of AI.

The recent media hype largely focuses on AI as a cool toy to play around with reality. Or manuipulating existing text and images for the wrong reasons. That’s really sad.

Let’s instead talk about AI as a way to ENHANCE REALITY; clarify what you see; turn key features and specs into a whole; turn mobile phone photos into attractive stories.

Let’s talk about AI for AUTOMATION. Industrial automation has been around for decades, revolutionizing productivity, quality control, safety and economy. and . Automation of customer guidance, administrative routines, international trade …

Let’s talk about automation in Marketing, Sales, and Customer support. Presenting every single product in stock to every potential buyer on their own home turf, addressing every conceivable buying motive, using their preferred means of receiving information.

This is no science fiction. It’s a powerful wave of innovation and business development involving thousands, no millions of companies, reaching billions of buyers around the world.

It’s so simple. And there are virtually no limits. Whether you have 100 or 10,000 cars in stock, simply plug in to the online service.

Some of the world’s largest dealer networks are already onboard.

So, don’t be afraid. If you have questions, simply ask. And, whatever you do … don’t be late to the party!

Phyron uses AI to create, manage and publish video ads in online websites, marketplaces, and world leading social media. 100 percent automatically. Thousands of car dealers use it and reap the benefits every day. And we have only just begun.

AI is NOT about twisting reality beyond recognition

Don’t waste a good thing.

So, you’re a car dealer? Or you’re working with marketing or sales in a car dealership? Tough job, especially these days:

Consumers are at least as confused about the consequences of the ongoing business transformation as you or I ever were.

How do you catch their attention in the new, increasingly crowded, fast moving media channels? … explain the short- and long-term economics of electrification? … earn anybody’s trust with the uncertain outlooks? And what about new business models?

Now, if you think THAT’S tricky, … what about the poor guys trying to catch YOUR attention and read your mind while all this goes on? Take AI automated video ads for instance. Just reading those four words makes you feel it’s a bit complicated, right? While in fact it could make your life so much easier.

The challenge is rather that there may be SO MANY reasons to consider this fully automated plug-in service:

Eight out of ten buyers prefer video, and video is also favored by the algorithms controlling the search engines.

Video gets more attention, triggers emotional response, and can present the critical buying motives within the first few seconds. Which is so critical online.

One fully automated end-to-end service to create high-quality ads and publish them in your digital showroom, marketplaces, and all social platforms saves time and money.

It hits potential car buyers early, at the top of the ”funnel”.

It enables radically simplified internal workflows.

You can apply it to a hundred, a thousand or tens of thousands of vehicles at a time …

… and get studio-quality video ads for each one within a few minutes.

There are no capital investments, training programs or long contracts.

The only complexity is in listing the multitude of dealer benefits

The simple truth about automated AI video ads

In consumer advertising, brand and product promises are often based on pure fiction. ”The product” is not primarily its function but the idea of who you are, who your targeted individuials want to be, as part of a special community. All visualized or dramatized for easy recognition in ads, events, retail display, and product packaging. Creativity is used to bring the fiction alive.

In business, “the product” is real and ultimately related to the targeted audience’s bottom line. Here, creativity can be used to define, explain, bring attention to, prove, and confirm the real value of the product, solution, or service and its supplier.

Sure, a b2b brand may also be charged by emotional or fictional ideas, but please handle that insight with discretion. They are PROUD to be rational, responsible, professional ... and PAID to make 100% rational buying decisions. Internally they should always be ready to motivate and defend their buying decisions and preferences in terms of increased revenues, lowered costs, eliminated risk …

Sometimes, an entire industry needs to defend its very existence. In recent decades, environmentalists have, for example, turned against the automotive industry. Beside communicating the progress of ongoing product development, the public may also need to be reminded about the inherent benefits of the fundamental product idea.

Many years ago, I and my art director partner Åke were assigned by a major manufacturer of stainless steel. Steel manufacturing consumes huge amount of electricity, a fact frequently shamed by the environmental movement at the time.

The client’s brief was simple: We can not avoid the electricity issue. It is what it is, so try to redirect  the focus to other environmental aspects. Remind the environmentalists, policy makers, and the general public that steel can be recycled and repurposed again and again, saving truckloads of natural resources. And remember that environmentalists and policymakers are rarely tech savvy, so make it easy to grasp for anybody.

My brilliant AD partner spontaneously came up with a (nearly) final headline summarizing the key benefit. An idea easy to vary with different examples without boring the audience to death. And, importantly, easy to translate into other languages. Because the creativity was in the idea, not in wordplay. As a writer, I simply had to look for interesting examples and fill in the details. A prime example of creative teamwork. And of b2b creativity.

The creativity in Phyron is in the idea of mass-customized ads, combined with enhanced visual quality, and automated ad creation and publishing.

To save you the trouble of looking it up: the headline in the Swedish-language ad above reads ”Here comes your old kitchen sink at 300 kms per hour.”

The creativity in AI automated car advertising is very real

Is your creativity built on fact or fiction?

According to an article in Forbes (and they are pretty smart), ads featuring cats or dogs get more attention.

But if you use a cute dog picture to lure people to read about something else … their attention may not last very long. That kind of deceptiveness could rather turn them off. At the ad agency where I once worked, we referred to that cheap trick as a loose nose. Engaging RELEVANT pictures sell.

If you’re in car sales and marketing, you already know that good car pictures help to sell more cars. And that the real hurdle In used car sales is not any lack of dogs … but the impossibly large numbers involved. If you’ve got hundreds or thousands of new and used cars to sell …

…. where do you find a thousand cute dogs to make a thousand unique used car ads stand out? Imagine the chaos and noise in the photo studio. :o) Sorry, couldn’t resist that, just kidding.

Thousands of dealers use Phyron AI automated online video ad service. Ensuring maximum attention and highlighting all relevant facts for ALL their cars, throughout the buying journey. All the cars and related services. Always-on.

So, what was that thing about dog houses?

The original Morris Mini was launched by British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1959. In the roaring sixties it became an icon for British pop culture, in total synch with duffle coats, free love, Rolling Stones and Beatles music. But ... here it comes:

In Sweden, the Mini was better known as ”Hundkojan” (Swedish for ”The dog house”.), obviously referring to its compact, boxy appearance. The car for young, cool urban drivers. College types, fashion models, creative professionals … the extreme opposite of old American V8s proudly flaunted by greasers at the other end of the socio-cultural spectrum.

I was barely 17, no driving license in sight, when my best buddy Tommy bought his first, very pre-owned cream-coloured Mini with black roof. Speaking of colours, I was green with envy. Today’s all-electric version is superior in every way. But I’ll never forget that cheeky little dog house on wheels.

The picture shows an all-electric Mini Cooper SE. And the hairy gentleman is a Shetland sheepdog, aka Sheltie, named Simba.

In Sweden the original Mini was affectionally known as The Doghouse.

A cheeky little dog house on wheels.

Early in life we learn to attract attention and benefits by shouting out what we want. If nobody listens, we shout out again … only louder!

The all-important art of listening comes later, if it comes at all. And, contrary to old prejudice, the most successful car salespersons tend to be the quiet, listening type. Steering the dialog ahead with their keen ears.

”There’s a reason why we are born with two ears and only one mouth”, says Phyron’s UK Account Manager Shaun Bosley. ”That’s something every sales mentor would have told any now successful sales director.”

The inbound stream of communication is at least as important as sales talk and ads.