The insights: Electric vehicle owners are ideal targets for out-of-home (OOH) advertising and foot traffic.
During downtime while consumers charge their EVs, brands have multiple ad opportunities.
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Chargers bring in foot traffic to surrounding areas. Half (50%) of EV drivers go grocery shopping while waiting for their vehicles to charge, per a JOLT Audience Insights survey in Australia.
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“Me time” opens avenues for geotargeted ads. Almost as many (47%) use that time to relax on their phones or tablets.
Walk-ins welcome: Proximity to retail shops, salons, grocery stores, and restaurants are key for EV drivers, and those businesses should take advantage of nearby charging stations with on-charger ads.
- 7 in 10 people shop in surrounding businesses while charging their vehicles, and 80% of those made a purchase, per JOLT.
- Customers spend an average of $29 while shopping.
Key stat: 23% of drivers in Europe and the US want reward programs and incentives in EV charging apps, per Smartcar. Those options could extend to the chargers themselves.
Captive audience: Those same businesses can also geotarget their ads to EV owners as they wait to encourage store visits.
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Social and streaming are ideal channels. Among those who prefer to wait in/near their vehicle while charging, 60% listen to music, 57% watch streaming videos, and 38% listen to podcasts or music, per JOLT.
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Ads on chargers will get noticed. JOLT found that 75% of EV owners rated its free, ad-supported charging model an 8 out of 10 or higher.
Our take: EV owners need to occupy their time while they’re charging, whether that takes a half hour or several hours.
Here’s how retailers, brands, and advertisers can get ahead in this space:
- Install charging stations outside brick-and-mortar locations to capitalize on both foot traffic and OOH ads.
- Add QR codes to EV charger advertising that provide discounts to nearby or online businesses.
- Offer store credits or gift cards that cover the cost of charging fees to boost loyalty and word-of-mouth referrals.