Turning Industry Recommendations into Measurable ROI
From Insight to Execution
In January 2025, Boston Consulting Group published “Shifting Gears to Accelerate Automotive Marketing ROI”, a landmark study exposing critical gaps in how automakers approach marketing in an increasingly fragmented, digital-first world. Their research highlights systemic shortcomings in measurement, operating models, dealer collaboration, and AI adoption.
Promulgate was built to solve exactly these problems. Where BCG diagnoses the gaps, Promulgate provides the execution system. By embedding governance, measurement, and domain-specific intelligence into every step of OEM–dealer digital marketing, Promulgate transforms recommendations into repeatable, scalable outcomes.
This whitepaper translates BCG’s insights into practice: showing how governance-first execution, powered by Promulgate’s UniFlow framework, delivers measurable ROI across multi-location automotive networks.
TL;DR
The BCG whitepaper on automotive marketing ROI exposes gaps in measurement, dealer collaboration, operating models, and AI safeguards. Promulgate addresses these gaps with a governance-driven execution system: PES for benchmarking, UniFlow for orchestration, SmartBox360 for AI-enabled lead management, and a Governance Control Centre for compliance. This whitepaper shows how OEMs can move from diagnosis to execution — accelerating ROI through central strategy and local execution.
The Gaps Identified in Automotive Marketing
BCG’s survey of senior automotive marketers revealed:
- Fragmented Measurement: Only 30% believe they can measure the incremental impact of marketing activities.
- Operating Model Misalignment: Outsourcing and silos prevent agility and data-driven execution.
- Weak Dealer Collaboration: Only one-quarter of OEMs regularly coordinate campaigns with dealers.
- AI Adoption Without Safeguards: Generative AI offers speed and personalization but risks brand dilution if unguided.
- EV Marketing Complexity: Traditional mass campaigns fail to convert EV buyers, who require highly tailored messaging.
These gaps, if left unaddressed, lead to wasted budgets, inconsistent brand experiences, and missed opportunities to engage the next generation of automotive buyers.
Mapping BCG’s Recommendations to Promulgate’s Execution
| BCG Recommendation | Promulgate Functionality |
|---|---|
| Integrated Measurement Framework – Define KPIs across the consumer journey, from awareness to conversion. |
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| Modern Operating Model – Break silos, build cross-functional agility, reduce over-outsourcing. |
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| Redefining Dealer Collaboration – Align campaigns, avoid duplication, deliver cohesive brand experiences. |
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| AI in Marketing – Harness speed and personalization while maintaining brand protection. |
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| EV-Specific Marketing – Replace mass messaging with audience-specific campaigns. |
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Governance: The Missing Operating Principle
BCG’s report emphasizes agility, collaboration, and AI safeguards, but it stops short of naming the underlying principle: Governance.
Governance is not bureaucracy. In digital marketing execution, it means establishing clarity of roles, policy-based control, and structured measurement. It is the difference between OEMs and dealers competing for ad inventory versus collaborating on unified campaigns. It is what ensures that AI-driven speed does not compromise brand integrity.
Promulgate is designed with governance at its core. Every campaign, asset, and interaction is anchored in rules, policies, and measurable outcomes. OEMs retain control; dealers retain agility. The result is a marketing system that is both fast and compliant, local and centralized, innovative and measured.
Promulgate : The Execution Layer in Action
- Promulgate Efficiency Score (PES): The industry’s first benchmark uniting marketing inputs and outcomes at the dealership level, enabling comparison across outlets, zones, and national networks.
- UniFlow Campaign Manager: Campaigns can originate at the OEM, zone, or regional level and cascade down for dealer execution — all within policy and brand guardrails.
- SmartBox360™: A unified inbox and lead engine that qualifies leads with LQS (Lead Qualification Score) and LSS (Lead Sentiment Score), bringing intelligence to customer engagement.
- Governance Control Centre: Dashboards for OEM executives to monitor compliance, ROI, and dealer alignment.
- Integrated Content & Asset Hub: A single source of truth for creatives, messaging, and templates, ensuring consistency across markets and languages.
Together, these modules operationalize the very gaps that the white paper highlights.
Case Example: 100-Dealer OEM Network
Imagine an automaker with 100 dealerships rolling out a new EV model.
| Without Governance (Current State) | With Promulgate (Governance-Driven Execution) |
|---|---|
| OEM and dealers launch overlapping, uncoordinated campaigns. | OEM defines EV-specific strategy centrally in the Governance Control Centre. |
| Dealers compete for ad inventory; budgets are duplicated. | Dealers access OEM-approved templates via the Integrated Content & Asset Hub. |
| Messaging is fragmented, leading to inconsistent customer experience. | Campaigns cascade through UniFlow, executed locally but tracked centrally. |
| Leads are captured in silos, often unqualified or poorly routed. | Leads flow into SmartBox360, scored with LQS/LSS, and distributed intelligently. |
| ROI measurement limited to basic clicks and impressions. | PES benchmarks deliver outlet-level ROI visibility across the 100-dealer network. |
The result: cohesive branding, reduced duplication, and measurable improvement in EV campaign ROI.
Conclusion: From Strategy to Execution
The BCG whitepaper has issued a clear call to action for the automotive industry: reinvent marketing with better measurement, operating models, dealer collaboration, and AI adoption.
But diagnosis is not enough. To realize these prescriptions, OEMs need an execution system — one that translates strategic intent into daily dealer actions while maintaining consistency, compliance, and measurable ROI.
That is exactly what Promulgate delivers.
- The BCG’s whitepaper highlights the measurement gap → Promulgate answers with PES.
- The BCG’s whitepaper highlights operating silos → Promulgate enables UniFlow orchestration.
- The BCG’s whitepaper highlights dealer misalignment → Promulgate enforces central strategy with local execution.
- The BCG’s whitepaper highlights the risks of AI without guardrails → Promulgate deploys SmartBox360 under governance control.
In short,
the BCG whitepaper prescribes the “what”; Promulgate delivers the “how.”
For OEMs navigating the complexity of EV adoption, fragmented dealer networks, and rising marketing costs, governance-first execution is not optional — it is the only way to accelerate ROI sustainably.
Promulgate is not just a tool. It is the execution architecture for the future of automotive marketing.
This paper references publicly available research by BCG; all interpretations and solutions are Promulgate’s own work.