Driving a legacy brand into the future

Pictured above: Billboard from the Tell New Zealand About Your Car campaign.

In a country where one dominant player in the online used car marketplace has become the default for car listings, one legacy brand is shaking up the status quo. Auto Trader has staged a remarkable comeback. With the support of Japanese automotive group Optimus and the creative expertise of Auckland agency 4AM, Auto Trader has rebranded itself as a dynamic, user-driven platform and one that’s winning market share in a notoriously tough category.

Auto Trader’s roots stretch back more than four decades. It was originally a print-only publication, well known for its groundbreaking idea: Including photos of actual vehicles in car ads.

“Who would have thought?” says Kurt Bradley, Managing Partner at 4AM.

“Up until then, a listing was either just words, or it was a glossy advertising shot of a car-not the actual car for sale. It was a huge innovation at the time.”

But the arrival of the internet, and particularly Trade Me, fundamentally changed the car buying experience in New Zealand. Auto Trader, like many print-first businesses, slowly faded from public view.

“Most people we talked to thought Auto Trader no longer existed. It never went away, but it was just no longer as relevant,” says Kurt.

Ross Logue and Richie East, who had been running Auto Trader under then owner Bauer Media, saw an opportunity and purchased the title. This was exactly a year before the closure of Bauer, brought on by the pandemic.

“We were smart enough to go, I think there’s something in this brand. We negotiated a deal to own the IP and take the business over,” explains Ross, Managing Director of Auto Trader.

The shift from performance to brand

Ross and Richie worked quietly on Auto Trader for several years, rebuilding the platform and re-focusing its efforts. “We solely focused on performance, by measuring every dollar. As everyone knows in marketing, you can’t do that forever. You need to spend some money on creating a brand-giving it emotion and personality,” says Ross.

That moment came after a majority buyout by Optimus, a Japanese company with a strong automotive supply chain presence.

“We now had more cash to do [marketing],” says Ross.

“So, we decided to refresh the brand and its digital presence to reconnect with New Zealand and put us back on the map.”

Together with 4AM, the team began a strategic process to develop a creative platform that would make Auto Trader relevant again.

“One of the first things we always do is run what we call a kickstart session. It’s a strategic workshop with the client, the media agency, and our creative team to tease out insights.”

One key takeaway from that workshop? People love telling stories about their cars.

“I bet you’ve got an old car you remember; a breakdown, a lift you gave someone, some fancy mags you splashed out on. We all quite like talking about our cars.”

“Tell New Zealand About Your Car”

The insight that cars are emotional objects formed the basis for Auto Trader’s comeback campaign. Giving life to the creative platform: Tell New Zealand About Your Car.

“We wanted to tap back into the emotion of ownership. It’s not just a piece of metal. There’s history, there’s experience. I’ve had 1,000s of people over the years tell me stories about the Auto Trader magazine. Especially men, they’d say, ‘I used to go and get the Auto Trader with my dad every week.’ That’s the feeling we wanted to bring back,” says Ross.

Kurt says that the strategy was clear: “With a lot of marketing attention focused on buyers, we decided we’re going to talk primarily to sellers. If you tell people to list their car, buyers will follow.”

The campaign didn’t just include TV and digital, it was built around real listings submitted by the public. Kiwis were encouraged to write witty or memorable headlines about their vehicles. The best ones were turned into nationwide billboard ads.

“It’s clever,” says Ross.

“We want to say something a bit funny, a bit relevant to New Zealand today. The public have absolutely grasped the concept.”

The campaign also acted as a smart promotional engine. “The TV ad is actually a promotion. But it’s also a brand ad. And the out-of-home billboards are a prize, but also an ad for the car-and an ad for Auto Trader. It all dovetails,” says Kurt.

Brand amplification

The visual identity of the brand was built around the idea of amplification, of what 4AM calls, “blast mode.”

“One of our team did the old cup-your-hands-around-your-mouth thing and yelled, ‘Tell New Zealand about your car!’ like a megaphone. “We all loved it, and that became the brand’s new tone.”

The design system was refreshed to match with bold colours, skewed typography, megaphone shapes, and photos of cars shot side-on. “We wanted to make it feel loud, proud and fresh.”

The impact was immediate and significant.

“When we bought the business in 2019, we were doing around 150,000 monthly users. Last month, we hit 305,000. That’s more than double,” says Ross.

The campaign launched in September 2024.

But the most important growth metric? Private listings. “We had 500 private listings on the site when we started. We’ve now got over 4,300. That’s about 13 to 14 percent of the market share, and it’s only been six months. It’s crazy,” says Ross.

He says that three out of the first four months of 2025 have been record-breakers, with April being their biggest month ever for leads. “The response has been fantastic. Everyone’s really happy.”

The campaign has also been recognised by the advertising industry, winning the Grand Prix at the OOHMAA Awards for best out-of-home campaign in New Zealand as well as multiple awards at the 2025 Axis Creative Advertising awards.

“It’s been a huge success,” says Kurt.

What’s next?

Ross says that Auto Trader isn’t stopping at just cars.

“We’ll soon be adding motorbikes, boats, motorhomes, trucks, basically all the automotive verticals.”

An app is set to launch in the next few months, and more creative campaigns are in the pipeline.

“The free listings are building nicely month-on-month. We’re just trying to put a bit more emotion and a bit more fun back into the car buying experience,” says Ross.

For 4AM, it’s a case study in how strategically led creative, cultural insight, and trust between client and agency can deliver something truly transformative.

“This has helped us reconnect with New Zealand,” say Ross. “That’s what it was all about.”