Used car retailer Vroom buys and sells vehicles online without requiring consumers to enter a physical dealership.
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Used car retailer Vroom is buying its first airtime at the Super Bowl on Sunday to introduce the company to the nearly 100 million fans who watch the game each year – and to make fun of its competition.
Vroom buys and sells vehicles online without requiring customers to go to a dealership. His 30-second Super Bowl ad called “Dealership Pain” focuses on the pressure to buy a vehicle through a traditional dealership.
“We felt that the Super Bowl would be that kind of opportunity to get this message across about our brand promise, which is that you never have to go to a dealership again,” Vroom’s marketing director Peter Scherr told CNBC. “We felt it was a way to get a new normal for us in terms of considering the Vroom for buying and selling cars. And we will continue with that momentum throughout 21.”
Vroom’s business is similar to Carvana, a larger e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars. But instead of targeting this competitor, Vroom decided to focus on physical retailers in general – a market much larger than Carvana’s customers who are already aware of buying cars online.
“The way we see it is that our main competitors are traditional dealers,” said Scherr. “There is a lot of room for success in the Super Bowl, just as Carvana continues on its path of success.”
Vroom CEO Paul Hennessy added: “It just didn’t make sense to choose one of the smallest players in the market and compete with them. We are competing with the fate of our customers, who are basically traditional dealerships.”
Vroom’s ad shows a car buyer being pressured by a used car salesman almost to the point of torture with auxiliary cables. While the customer begs to leave, the salesman bends over to secure the connecting cables to him. When this happens, the chair and the scene turn to the man sitting in his front yard with a woman receiving a vehicle from Vroom. “Well, that was painless,” says the actor as the vehicle is delivered.
The Super Bowl ad is part of an ad campaign for Vroom featuring similar ads, including a so-called “Dealership Deceit” that aired during Sunday’s AFC Championship game for the NFL.
Both Hennessy and Scherr hope the Super Bowl announcement will continue to increase knowledge and business for Vroom, which went public in June.
“We are thinking long term and building a long term business,” said Hennessy. “We hope that Vroom is a household name.”
Vroom’s sales increased 86% in the first three quarters of last year to 10,860 vehicles, driving the company’s revenue to jump 62% to $ 630.5 million during this period compared to 2019. This compares to Carvana with sales of nearly 172,000 vehicles and revenue of $ 3.8 billion during the first nine months of last year. Both companies are not profitable.
Vroom’s shares rose about XX% from the initial public offering price of $ 22 per share. The stock closed Tuesday at $ X, XX per share, down XX percent and XX so far this year.
– CNBC’s Megan Graham contributed to this report.
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