Pon's Automobiel Handel: PON Connected Car, 3

Credits & Description:

Client: Pon’s Automobiel Handel
Agency: Achtung! Mcgarrybowen
Concept Creator: Daniel Sytsma
Art Director: Roy Van Dijk
Designer: Joost Huver
Interaction Designer: Sioux
Developer: Sioux
Producer: Sven Vening
Special Effects: Sven Vening
Technical Realization: Sioux
Creative Technologist: Sioux
Project Lead Client Side: Ruud Groeliken, Tjeerd Tuitel
Strategy Partner (achtung! / Kraftwerk): Boris Nihom
Partner (branddoctors): Peter Van Der Schouw
BRIEF
The traditional business model of a car dealership is under pressure. Less cars are sold, as people switch from ownership to car-sharing. The margin on car sales is declining due to increased promo pressure. And cars need less maintenance, so owners visit the garage less often and spend less. When they do, they choose independent garages or specialized chains over brand dealerships. PON, the Dutch importer of Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT en ŠKODA, needed creative innovation to find new ways to generate revenue and enhance the relationship between driver and dealer.
By providing the car with an internet connection, a wealth of data about the vehicle and the user can be unlocked. PON wants to use this ‘Connected Car’ to stimulate maintenance by the dealership and leverage new business models. So we set out to design a multi-brand platform that enables PON to transform towards a data driven business and drive customer lifetime value in new ways.
IDEA
From research we found that most people believe that cars are a ‘black box’ they don’t understand. So we designed multiple services that give drivers and fleet owners the feeling of control over their car or fleet - Where the competition positions connected car as a luxury feature (ie. BMW) or a loyalty platform (ie. Opel),
A MULTI-PLATFORM BUSINESS
An app for drivers gives insight into the status of the car. It notifies upcoming maintenance and helps schedule appointments and predict costs. The app takes care of trip administration, shows your driving score and enables automatic parking check-out.
A dealer CRM portal helps drive contact between dealers and drivers.
A B2B environment allows fleet owners to keep track of their fleet.
Most importantly, our platform helped PON create ‘MIND’: a venture dedicated entirely to generate new revenue sources: from big data mobility insights to white-label solutions for non-PON brands.
IMPACT
The 'Connected Car' has been a continuous project running since 2015. We are sending in this case for the 2017 ADCN Awards to prove sustainable impact on the business model of PON. The results below are based on a long-term comparison between the customer lifetime value of connected car drivers vs. non-connected car drivers. Since we are trying to transform the traditional business model in automotive, including setting up a new venture ('MIND'), we believe the business impact of this can only be proven over a longer period of time.
Currently, there are more than 50k Connected Cars from PON brands on the road. Adoption of the service is limited only to the rate in which people buy new cars. To prove the business value of the platform, PON has done a study for the past three years in which they compare the additional after-sales value of connected cars (N=5308) with the after-sales value of non-connected cars (N=9192) during the same period.
These numbers are large enough to extrapolate to all 50k connected cars. And the composition of the two groups was identical in terms of (1) car value, (2) number of kilometers driven and (3) private or lease.
The results crushed all expectations: Users of the Connected Car go to the dealer earlier (+71% | target was +43%), they go to the dealer more often (+15% | on target) and spend more more at the dealer (+32% | target was +25%). Overall this means that the average customer value has more than doubled +127% (target was +100%).
Also average user satisfaction with the platform was at 98% (target was 80%) and the number of sessions per month is almost double the target (8,1 sessions p/m | target was 4,3 sessions p/m)
NB. Please respect the confidentiality of these numbers
RECOGNITION
The Connected Car platform has been recognized by leading experts in the field. The Dutch Interactive Awards jury report for the category ‘Data’ reads: “The app is disruptive on it’s own business model ánd is offered white label. The possibilities of data for different stakeholders is very well considered and it’s clear that there are still numerous business cases possible. This is not gold, this is platinum."
Recently KPMG writes about PON’s competition: “70 percent of Dutch importers and dealers is doing nothing when it comes to using the data from the Connected Car. Companies lack a consistent strategy and a clear vision on possible business models is non-existent.” (KPMG, The connected car is here to stay, 2017)