Carwow appoints TBWA London to help evolve its car buying comparison site

TBWA London has been appointed as lead agency by Carwow, an online retail platform for new car buyers.

Carwow previously worked with Creature London, which made the “Tamed” campaign (below), and TBWA claims that UK billings are worth more than £5 million.

TBWA’s new campaign will break before Christmas, ahead of the first quarter of the year when a third of car sales are usually made.

The comparison site, which also includes car news and reviews, was named the UK’s second fastest growing company behind Deliveroo in the Financial Times 1000 last year, and has been hit by the same ups and downs as its tech startup peers. Carwow just hit a £2 million crowdfunding target within 60 minutes, but days later posted £15.9 million pre-tax losses for 2018, although revenues were up 28 per cent to £19.6 million.

The business, which attracted £25 million investment led by Daimler AG in August, has expanded into Germany and is working on Spain and France, but 84 per cent of revenues came from the UK last year.

Carwow’s CMO, Phil Lloyd (who has worked at AMV and BBH), said: “Like lots of tech businesses, we’re a performance marketing business to the core. But we know that evolving our mixture of channels and strategy over time to broaden the way we continue growing is vital. TBWA and their disruption approach is a natural fit for us. The team were great – engaged, interested, passionate – and the work we’re creating together will have real impact.”

TBWA London CEO Sara Tate, said: “Carwow is a true disruptor that is at a key stage of growth. So the brand is well placed to achieve its ambition of becoming the UK’s number one new car-buying platform. We’re really excited to be part of their incredible journey.”