Global Expansion Advertising: Multinational B2B for Copart

Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT), a publicly-traded ecommerce auto auction marketplace sought global expansion advertising across 9 countries and 3 continents [1]. To test growing demand in emerging markets, the brand sought Criterion Global for its specialty in international media planning and buying. The work that resulted created a framework for global advertising, specifically multinational B2B advertising, for the auto marketplace. Due, in part, to its growth in global markets[2]:

Since initial global expansion advertising partnership, CPRT stock is up 1,103.86% and is regularly cited among NASDAQ’s greatest global growth stories.

The initial selection of global expansion markets came in two cohorts:

1. Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Vietnam, Russia, and India.
2. United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Bahrain, Oman, Spain, Ireland and Germany.

Each market carried unique challenges. This was due to the performance marketing goals of the campaign, budgets available and campaign launch timing for initial market testing.

Furthermore, the site’s auto buyers were extremely diverse. Multinational B2B advertising audiences varied – from used vehicle dealers, dismantlers, rebuilders, exporters, etc. Only rarely were buyers the intended end users. This made precise targeting a challenge with limited budgets for initial market testing.

Initial creative provided to Criterion Global was translated from English into each market’s dominant language. Yet this process required local knowledge to make it usable, as many standard English idioms simply do not translate.

For example, the client’s original copy communicated that the marketplace offered products “from A to Z,” using market-specific localized city names beginning with “A” and “Z”, to demonstrate the range of offering – appropriate for global advertising for an online auction marketplace.

Creative copy intended to show the wide range of their coverage and offering. However, this proved problematic where the two locations weren’t geographically very far. Saying, for instance ‘We Sell Autos from Angola to Zambia’ isn’t compelling. Why? Angola and Zambia border one another. Criterion Global corrected these international marketing missteps early on, with creatives optimized for various multinational B2B advertising targets.

The test markets’ populations ranged from 9M to 1.1B. Naturally, we needed to narrow our focus. It helped to understand that the client’s most valuable target prospect, with the greatest expectations of ROAS were B2B entities, rather than end users. 

We leveraged this insight to formulate intricate market-specific media planning and buying strategies across the 9 test markets. Multinational B2B media targeted business owners actively seeking cars and trucks as re-sellers, exporters and other “non-consumer” contexts, specifically using digital, print, and on one occasion in Lagos, Nigeria, out-of-home media.

During the initial 6 month introduction period, the global expansion advertising strategy saw strong return on ad spend, as measured by 3 core KPIS:

• Growth in active auction participation by country (avg. daily users), 
• In-market brand lift (organic search pre- and post-flight)
• And, finally, online marketplace sales.

Some markets in this multi-market test proved insufficiently lucrative to merit long term investment. But these learnings were valuable too. In all, Copart’s global expansion marketing effort helped them solidify their presence in key global markets, as it has for other Criterion Global clients. 

Copart cites their global expansion story as part of their success story in 44 of their quarterly earnings reports filed with the SEC. According to analysts at Seeking Alpha [3], international expansion is of growing importance in their long-term growth story. 

“Especially with regard to global growth…It’s one of the best-performing stocks I’ve ever covered.”

–LA Times[4]

Sources:

1. Copart, Wikipedia.
2. If You Invested $1000 in Copart, Inc. a Decade Ago, This is How Much It’d Be Worth Now, Yahoo Finance.
3. “Copart Long-Term Growth Story“, Seeking Alpha, citing International Growth
4. “This California junkman became an auto auction billionaire” Los Angeles Times, citing global expansion + advertising.
5. [Note:] Copart’s subsidiary brands include BID4U, CashForCars.com, CrashedToys, DRIVE Auto Auctions, and National Powersport Auctions (NPA) and others in specific markets.