This first-party information aids brands to send targeted messages to relevant automotive cohorts at key stages of the car buying journey, increasing efficiency and engagement. This includes audiences looking at general car buying advice at an early stage (‘Awareness’ phase), to those further down the funnel and looking at certain body style or fuel type (‘Engagement’ phase), to consumers who are in deep research stage and typically eight weeks away from purchase (‘Intent’ phase). Early trials have shown that when targeting users during the ‘Engagement’ stage using Illuminate, dwell time increased by 50% and the number of users that engage with car adverts by 13%.

The introduction of the service follows the launch of Bauer Autoventure in 2020, which married Bauer’s Automotive titles such as Parkers, Car, Fleet News, Automotive Management, Classic Car and Practical Classics with its market-leading audio business, providing automotive brands creative advertising solutions. With the expansion of Bauer Illuminate, auto brands will now be able to benefit from both Bauer’s creativity and insight to create campaigns with impact – especially as the industry rapidly moves to a cookieless world.

Jim Burton, Digital Commercial Director, Bauer Autoventure, said: “Bauer Illuminate’s automotive solution is an evolution of the very successful targeting that the auto industry and us as a premium auto publisher have been accustomed to for the last 15+ years. The data signals we see allow us to build those auto audiences in real time and play a pivotal part in building audiences across the different buying funnel stages that will engage with our clients’ messages. We’re excited to roll out Illuminate with more of our clients, helping them to build campaigns from brand awareness right through to performance campaigns that reach highly qualified audiences with an increased propensity to engage.”