by Terry MacCauley - Posted 5 days ago
Over the past several weeks, we have explored the first three Big Time principles: Reach, Frequency, and Budget Tied to Actual Sales. Together, they establish how your message is seen, how often it is remembered, and how the budget behind it keeps everything moving in rhythm.
Now we arrive at the most visible and emotional part of the equation, the creative. Creative is where everything the customer experiences begins to take shape. It is where data meets design, and where discipline meets emotion.
This week’s focus is Principle Number Four: Creative That Builds Brand and Urgency Equally.
In advertising, there is a constant temptation to lean too far in one direction. Some dealers focus entirely on brand. Their advertisements are polished, heartfelt, and emotional, yet they never ask for the sale. Others focus only on urgency, shouting every discount, deadline, and clearance until the message becomes noise that customers quickly tune out.
Both extremes fail over time. Actual performance lives in balance. Brand builds familiarity. Urgency builds action. One without the other is incomplete.
At Big Time Advertising, we teach that every advertisement must sell and build something. Every time your creative runs, it should move inventory and strengthen your brand in the mind of your market.
Creative excellence requires structure. Developing monthly themes brings consistency, accountability, and a rhythm that keeps your dealership's message on track.
Themes provide both a framework and a deadline. They allow you to plan campaigns around relevant seasons, events, or consumer behaviors while keeping everything visually and tonally consistent. Dealerships that change direction every week confuse their audiences. Dealerships that build each month around a unified message build momentum and recognition.
A strong monthly theme also keeps every creative department aligned. From graphic design to social media to video production, when all channels communicate the same theme, customers recognize your dealership as organized, credible, and professional.
Every salesperson and manager in the car business remembers the four-square worksheet. It was the foundation of presenting a deal: Price, Trade, Down Payment, and Payment.
Those same four points can also serve as a robust creative framework. We call it the Four-Square Creative Guide.
Customers rarely care about all four categories at once. Usually, one or two are the emotional or logical hot buttons that drive their decision. The key is to rotate your creative focus between these motivators throughout the year.
Price: Show real value. Be transparent about savings, selection, or special offers.
Trade: Highlight easy trade-in processes, equity advantages, and how simple it is to upgrade.
Down Payment: Focus on accessibility and convenience. Customers want to know how easy it is to get approved and drive today.
Payment: Promote affordability and lifestyle fit. “Payments that fit your budget” is a message that never goes out of style and remains one of the most effective messages in retail automotive.
As part of the Payment category, remember to include both Interest Rate and Lease options as creative elements. These powerful components influence buying decisions just as much as monthly payment amounts.
Interest rates tell a story about accessibility and trust. Low APR promotions, finance specials, and lender partnerships can communicate stability and opportunity, especially in tighter economic conditions. Creative that features interest rate transparency gives customers confidence and removes hesitation.
Lease messaging works similarly, yet appeals to a different mindset. Some customers care less about ownership and more about lifestyle flexibility, lower payments, and the excitement of driving something new every few years. Rotating lease-focused creative into your campaigns ensures you capture both value-driven buyers and experience-driven shoppers.
By cycling your creative through these four squares and incorporating interest rates and lease offers into your payment messaging, your marketing continuously hits relevant motivators while staying fresh, balanced, and on brand.
When you build urgency through an “Act Now” message and reinforce your brand through “Here is why us,” you train customers to buy today and remember your name tomorrow. That balance is the secret of sustainable advertising.
A strong example of this comes from Mohawk Chevrolet in Ballston Spa, New York.
In 2024, the dealership went viral on TikTok with a parody of The Office. It was clever, lighthearted, and completely on brand.
Brand Building: The campaign showcased the dealership’s personality and team culture. It made them feel approachable, familiar, and genuine.
Urgency (Subtle): The humor created attention and connection. Viewers wanted to visit, meet the staff, and experience the environment. Some even traveled hours because of the energy and authenticity of the video.
The dealership’s creative did more than advertise cars. It built trust, awareness, and personality. It proved that great advertising is both memorable and effective.
If you have never seen it, check out their YouTube channel, Mohawk Chevrolet. It is worth watching for both inspiration and a smile. After looking at it, I ask all of us the challenging, thought-provoking question, "How many of us would have had the patience to let this creative 1. Happen and 2. Allow Time to Develop the Viral Effect?"
Your creativity is your culture on display. Every piece of content, from a Facebook post to a website banner to how your showroom looks, tells the public who you are. Consistency is critical and crucial.
Customers sense the disconnect if your online presence screams urgency while your in-store experience feels bland or unenthusiastic. If your digital tone does not match your team’s personality, it breaks credibility.
Everything that leaves your dealership, every email, post, and advertisement, should feel like it comes from the same voice. Consistency builds trust. Over time, that trust becomes brand equity.
Artificial Intelligence has become one of the most powerful creative tools available today. It can generate ideas, images, scripts, and video concepts faster. Used correctly, it can help dealerships scale their creativity, explore new directions, and maintain consistency across campaigns.
However, AI alone cannot build a connection. It can assist in crafting, but it cannot feel. Consumers recognize authenticity immediately. They can tell when an image, voice, or message lacks the human touch. How cringy is it already when you receive an email from someone that you know was all copy and pasted stratight from ChatGPT! That is why the best creative combines AI efficiency with human emotion and intuition.
At Big Time Advertising & Marketing, we believe the future of creativity is collaboration between technology and people. When AI helps with design, layout, or inspiration, and your human team brings the emotion, storytelling, and brand personality, the standard of creativity rises dramatically.
It is never about replacing the human element. It is about enhancing it. AI can create faster, but only humans can make something real.
The fundamentals behind every memorable campaign are fonts, colors, tone, and visual flow. These details may seem small, but they are the threads that make any creative work professional and believable.
Your fonts should match your brand’s personality. Use bold, clear typefaces for strength and confidence. Avoid novelty fonts that distract from the message or appear inconsistent from platform to platform. Simplicity and readability always win.
Your color palette should complement your brand. Every dealership has a personality: energetic, trustworthy, sophisticated, or approachable. Your colors should mirror that identity. If your logo is bold and vibrant, your creative should reflect that energy without overwhelming the viewer.
The best creative teams never treat these details as afterthoughts. They are deliberate with every visual choice. They understand that these subtle design decisions separate an average campaign from an award-winning one.
If an advertising campaign is not driving results, the answer is not always to change the advertising channel. Often, it means taking a deeper, harder look at the creative itself. That requires honesty, discipline, and the willingness to critique your work. But that process, examining and refining your creative, is precisely what separates dealerships that maintain the status quo from those that lead their markets.
Creative is not decoration. It is the voice of your strategy. It brings life to your reach, frequency, and budget principles. It is what turns awareness into connection and connection into sales.
Every time your creative runs, it is either a deposit or a withdrawal from your brand equity. Ensure every piece you produce adds value, builds memory, and drives action.
Ultimately, it is not enough to simply be seen or heard. The goal is to be remembered.
• Next week: Principle Number Five: The Ultimate KPI: Cost Per Sold. We will bring it all together and show how to measure what truly matters.
-by Terry MacCauley, Founder & CEO
Starting October 28, 2025, Google is tightening its Misrepresentation Policy to crack down on dishonest pricing practices. The focus is on greater transparency and preventing tactics like bait-and-switch pricing, unclear free trials, or hidden charges.
This comes down to one principle for auto dealers: be upfront and clear with your pricing in ads. If your advertising creates even the perception of misleading or incomplete costs, you could receive a policy warning. If it’s not corrected within 7 days, your Google Ads account could be suspended. We have seen it happen to good-intentioned dealers, so avoid it now.
For our Big Time Advertising & Marketing clients, this is nothing new. We have already built campaigns to comply with these standards because Meta (Facebook/Instagram) has had similar policies in place for years. Our ad strategies are designed to stay compliant while still driving leads and sales. We have been anticipating this update for quite some time.
• Double-check pricing claims in your ads. Make sure they match what the customer will actually see and pay.
• Be clear about promos and trials. If there’s an expiration or future charge, state it plainly.
• Make sure your landing pages are updated. Pricing on landing pages must match the ad, and all proper disclaimers should be present and visible.
• Ask your vendor or team: “If Google flags one of our ads tomorrow, do we have a plan to respond?”
If any of this feels unclear, reach out to us. We can review your campaigns, walk you through the changes, and ensure you’re fully protected. The worst-case scenario is losing access to your Google Ads account, and that is not a risk worth taking.
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