iHeart Media Automotive is iHeart’s part of the business that focuses on car-related advertising and content. They’re talking about how to use AI while still keeping the message human.
NADA is a big U.S. dealer organization. When the show says it’s “live at NADA,” it means the talk is geared toward how car dealerships run and sell cars.
“Guaranteed human” means people still want to hear from a real person, not just an automated system. Even with AI, the best results come when a human delivers or backs up the message.
Concept
AI
AI is computer technology that helps figure out what people are likely to want. The episode’s point is that AI can personalize ads, but many shoppers still trust real people more.
Algorithms are the “decision rules” computers use to choose what you see online. In this context, they’re used for targeting ads, but the show argues people still want human trust.
Low inventory means fewer vehicles available for sale, which can push prices up and limit choice. The episode uses it as part of the broader narrative that shoppers have been told not to buy, affecting how dealers should communicate availability and next steps.
A “trusted voice” is a credible advisor or communicator the customer believes has their best interests in mind. In automotive retail, this can translate to salespeople, brand experts, or curated recommendations that reduce uncertainty during the buying process.
“Human connection” here refers to trust-building interactions between buyers and advisors/sales staff. The speaker argues AI should act as a catalyst to speed up and strengthen that relationship, especially for high-value customers.
Buying a car is a big decision, so people want to feel confident. This segment is saying that even with AI, buyers still want a trusted person to guide them.
“Hospitality” in a dealership context means the service mindset—how staff welcome customers, communicate, and make the experience comfortable. The segment ties hospitality directly to human connection as a driver of sales outcomes.
Nvidia is a major AI and semiconductor company whose leadership frequently shapes public discussion about AI capabilities and definitions of “smart.” The speaker uses Nvidia’s CEO as an example to connect AI’s changing role with the need for trust and guidance in buying.
GPT is a type of AI that can write and talk like a chatbot. Here it’s mentioned as an example of AI responding to your ideas in a way that might feel harsh or unhelpful compared to a human.
Autopilot is a system in some planes that helps fly automatically. The point being made is that it can be reliable for routine control, but humans still matter for judgment and context.
The Hyundai Santa Fe is a popular family SUV. The point here is that someone who understands a certain lifestyle (like being a mom) can explain which features matter to people like them.
RevZilla is a well-known online retailer for motorcycle gear, including helmets, gloves, riding pants, and boots. The segment highlights their content style—talking about what’s good and what’s not—to build trust and help customers choose the right product.
The segment contrasts measurable marketing/traffic metrics with the harder-to-quantify human factors that drive sales. It implies that analytics alone can’t fully capture customer trust, fit, and relationship strength.
A lot of people don’t just buy a car based on specs. They want to feel good about the choice, and that’s why trust and reassurance matter so much in the buying process.
A trusted recommendation is the idea that buyers want guidance from someone they believe has their best interests in mind. In automotive retail, this often means salespeople, reviews, and dealership processes that reduce uncertainty.
Video reviews are online clips where someone shows a car and talks about it. The point here is that audio reviews could work too—especially when you’re already in the car.
Audio reviews are like listening to someone talk through a car—what it’s like, what to watch for, and answers to questions. The idea is you could listen while you’re in the car instead of watching a video.
The idea is that once you own a car, it becomes a place where you spend a lot of time listening to audio. So brands could reach you while you’re driving or riding.
This is about showing ads or messages inside the vehicle—on screens or through audio. The argument is that it’s effective because you’re already paying attention while you’re in the car.
The point is that ads alone aren’t enough—people need to trust where the message is coming from. In car buying, trust can come from real explanations and credible recommendations.
This is a term for people who are probably going to buy a car soon, but they’re not fully committed yet. The goal is to build trust so they choose you when they’re ready.
Accessibility here means how easy it is for customers to get help and information from you. The better you are at that, the more likely they are to choose you.
“Target audience” means the specific group of shoppers the dealership is trying to reach with its marketing and messaging. The speaker emphasizes improving accessibility with information that’s actually helpful to that group.
Influencers are people on social media who have followers and can recommend things. Dealers use them to get in front of car shoppers in a more personal, less “salesy” way.
“Authenticity” is basically making sure the message feels genuine, not like a scripted ad. In car shopping, people trust sellers more when they feel like they’re hearing the truth from real people.
LIVE
All right, gang, we are here, the dealer playbook live at NADA, hosted by iHeart Media Automotive
and Auto Media Marketplace. The energy here this morning is delightful. It's delightful.
That's the only way I know how to say it. Today, I'm joined by my new pal, Joey Zenidis.
He's the executive vice president at iHeart Media Automotive. Joey, thanks so much for
joining me on the DPB. I'm excited, man. Thanks for having me. Okay. You and I,
I think we clicked, I don't know if it was the Beards. I don't know who is the aspiration I have
for the hair. We connected pretty quickly on the conversation of human to human connection.
For sure. From your vantage point at iHeart Media Automotive,
working with all of the dealers, all of the access you have to data, which is pretty incredible.
What are you finding this day and age when there's so much hype or zealotry
to come through the middle with a sentiment that I've heard you say, which is guaranteed human?
Tell me about that. What does it mean? How did you come up with it?
Yeah, guaranteed human is a core value for us at iHeart now that we're talking about a lot. And
it's because of the evolution of AI and the way people are targeted with algorithms and all those
things that happen should make the data that they get more relevant to them, should be smarter data.
But what we found and through consumer studies that iHeart has done is that most people still
want to hear media voices, recommendation voices, trusted voices from a human, you know?
And so taking the AI side of the business and all of the data side of the business and curating
the content and then being delivered by a human is the strongest place to be.
So I think it was something like 70% of people in our study said that they use AI and they use it
often, but 90% of them said they want to get their messages from a human. So in the car business
specifically, I think, you know, there's an interesting, we're an interesting moment where
there's a lot of people out there that have been told that it's not been a good time to buy a car,
right? Whether it's high interest rates, whether it's higher prices or whatever it is,
low inventory for a time, everything else. They've been told these stories and so
they're just kind of sitting there out of the market, right? And they're waiting for a trusted
voice, a human, a person that they feel as a friend of theirs to tell them, hey, it's okay,
you know? Now is a good time. So it's driving more of that connection with high value consumers
than ever in the auto space. Right. For those that are willing to see it as that,
it speeds up human connection. For sure. It's like the catalyst for actually getting us to
shake hands faster. Yep. But then there's the other side of it. People are going, no, it's going
to replace us. So what do you say to those individuals? I mean, you have the data, you have
the studies, you have more than enough evidence that says, no, but people still wanted a trusted
advisor or a trusted voice. So what do you say to those people? What should they be thinking about
to avoid the zealotry I might call it? I mean, I think people should look inward because I think
it's innate within us that everybody wants to connect, especially with purchase decisions,
things that are large like a car purchase, a vehicle purchase. You want to hear that
recommendation from a friend. You want to hear a trusted voice telling you that you know a background
on and like people know you from your show. They know what you're about. So when you say
something, there's that background. You don't want necessarily a large purchase like this to be
all machines, right? You want that human connection when you go in the dealership.
It's so important. Hospitality is important. As our guest earlier, Jeff Swickard was talking about
at stores and that all comes through human connection. So people know it. I think it's
the funny thing. Right. Just don't think about it a whole lot. You know, it's interesting. As
you're saying this, what I'm thinking about is this. I was recently, I saw a video of,
I'm going to say his name wrong, Jensen Hewing, the CEO of Nvidia. He's been all over the place,
right? Talking about AI. He was asked this question, who's the smartest person you know?
And he said, well, that's a really interesting question because the definition of smart, I
think, is changing. And what he said to kind of anchor it to what you just said, he said that
smart used to be somebody that could solve a problem or had a skill set that was very specific.
For example, software programmers, that's a very smart avenue to go down. And then he said,
but what's the first thing that AI's figured out is how to do software programming. So he said,
I think the definition of smart is changing, which is the person who with their experience and
wisdom and vibes and the ability to see around a corner and discern and think, you know, a few
steps ahead, that's probably going to be the new definition of smart. And so I feel like it anchors
what you're saying, Joey, which is that's rooted in our innate human desire for sure,
which is, okay, but you know, like GPT, right? Have you ever had GPT tell you your idea sucks?
It's at least a pivot. That's a really nice way to think about that problem. You should
definitely do that. But you, Joey, you are, and the dealer, or myself, I know this is a rant,
but you become the filter with a filter set in your core that a robot doesn't have and could
never care about. It's all about human connection. And it's street smarts coming back, right? And
it's human connection. One of the reasons why we're so excited to partner with you is that
through the podcast space, you have felt this for a long time, how long you've been doing it
since the early days of podcast. You calling me old? Since the early days. I mean, the fact is,
is that people in this audio ad environment and audio content environment feel human connection.
And podcast hosts and creators, our broadcast influencers in our market with our radio stations,
they know how to connect with people. That's our expertise, right? And so if they are armed with
that right data and you let them make the human connection, let you make the human connection,
everything works better. Right. People have a better experience. They get what they want.
They feel great about it. Yeah. Everything else gets better. You know, it's like somebody might
argue, well, I can trust a machine. I mean, pilots trust autopilot. Yeah. Right. But there's a
difference here. I'm picking up the difference of what you're saying. How would you best describe
the difference between trusting that human filter set, that human authority versus putting your
trust in a machine? Well, I think operationally, machines work and you want little small margins
of error, like in your pilot kind of analogy, right? You want that to be like really streamlined,
right? Yeah. But when you're talking about and thinking about something that's right for you,
if it's a purchase or a way to feel about something, you don't want a process to tell you that. You
want a human to tell you that based on their experience they've had with it, based on how
they've felt about it, based on, you know, the impact it made on them, whatever it is.
So I think it's that it's kind of like the operation you want streamlined. Yeah. You think
of that like with data and delivery and some of that stuff, you want streamlined portions,
but you still need the person to make the connection with you and make it relevant to you
and kind of activate all of it. This is making me think about, for example, some influencers on
social media, the car mom. Kelly, we've had her on the show. What is she if not the human lens?
That opens up the understanding for her target audience. She does car reviews and all she does
is through the lens of the car mom. So if she's looking at the new tell you ride or a Santa Fe
or whatever the vehicle might be, it's through the lens of I'm a mom, I understand what you're
going through. I know what I'm looking for. And because I do this with a lot of vehicles,
I've learned to ask questions that maybe you haven't asked yet or you should be considering.
And she's not selling a particular vehicle or not. I think of another brand motorcycles.
You strike me as someone who might ride a motorcycle. I've been known to dabble.
So there's a company that I follow where their guys talk good and bad about every product that
they carry. And you might think and I've tried to articulate how to do this at a dealership level
because it's like, well, I got to sell all of the vehicles that I carry.
Well, so does Revzilla. I think that's the name of the brand. Revzilla wants to sell every helmet
they carry every glove line, every pant, writing pan, every writing shoe. But they talk about it
in terms of, hey, if your head is kind of this shape, this helmet may be uncomfortable for you.
What it does is it makes me want to buy their products from them even more. Is that what
you're seeing? Is that the vibe that I'm picking up on? For sure. I mean, I think trust is at the
root and the heart of this. And if you go in and you only say everything is great for you,
it's a quick way downhill, right? Because the trust erodes. People know everything isn't right
for them, but the right thing is right for them. And so building trust in the recommendations and
knowing your person that you're talking to is first and foremost, like it becomes about audiences
and it becomes about fit, which I think is so key when you go through it. Some might say
marketing 101. Yeah. Know who you're talking to. Yeah. Like be valuable to somebody not worthless
to everybody. Yeah. And I think so many things move to the direction of all of the data and all of
that part of it that a lot of people forgot about the connection part of it that you have to have
with your consumer or the person you're talking to. And that's what we found through everything
that we see is that when you have that brand health and you have that trust, you're having
those right conversations and doing them in the right way, all that other stuff works better.
So it supercharges the rest of the things that you're doing that you are using all the data for
and everything else. Brand health, I love that you bring this up because that to me is the silent
enabler or silent killer of a company. For sure. I mean, across your partners,
thousands of them across the country, I'm sure you can think of those that perpetually struggle
and then those that perpetually are just like rocking and rolling. Is brand health something
that you're seeing as a part of one of the success factors or one of the deterrents?
Brand health is key to everything when it comes to success, especially in the car business because
there's so many ups and downs all the time. We have something new that comes at us all the time,
whether it's the economy or it's industry specific or whatever it is. And I was talking to a dealer
the other day and he said, you know, I've been super successful because I'm steady Eddie and I
have my brand out there. I connect with the community. People know me as the person they can
count on. So no matter what's happening, I get the highest value people coming to talk to me because
they trust me and they believe in me. And I think you said something the other day when we were
talking that really resonated with me was that you can measure all you want, the people that are
coming in to your business and coming in all the time. What you is hard to measure and you really
have a tough time is the people that leave and turn their back on you. And so when trust erodes
and you don't have the brand health, you get in a wheel that's always trying to fill, but people
are going out the back door at the same time. So build trust on the front end, have it be the
backbone of everything through those, the right audiences, the right conversations and everything
changes. I'm just thinking of the the downward spiral of deteriorating trust. Yeah.
At what point did we start spending this much to get every lead? Right. And why? Right. Why? I just
got a composite from the region and we are spending way more than everybody else. Yeah.
Right. Yeah. That's typically what gets articulated. And it's like,
did you look at your brand? Yeah. Did you do a brand audit? Did you look at the perception of
your market at your brand? For those that I don't want to put you on the spot here, but I am
interested to know because you have access to such a large pool of data. For those that maybe
identify with, yeah, you know what? Maybe my brand needs to be a little stronger. Yeah.
What do you recommend? Where do they start? What's something they could do? I mean,
I know we're looking through the lens of audio. Yeah, through audio. Audio is interesting because
31% of the time that people are exposed to ads in a day comes from audio. 31% of exposure. Wow.
And people don't think about that necessarily. So from my standpoint, we talk about obviously our
broadcast influencers that really connect with their community and our podcast hosts and creators
because they're trusted voices. But the recommendation really is find the right audience
and the right trusted voice that knows how to talk to them and then let them talk to their people.
Yeah. Right? I think a mistake that we see a lot is, you know, we'll get really strict guidelines
on what needs to be said when, and I'm sure you would vouch for this is you know your audience.
You know what's going to resonate with them. Right. Let the person that is telling that story
and building that trust with you tell it in the way that's going to resonate. So I think that's
that's a core thing. Authenticity. Authenticity for sure. Authenticity in the message and in the
delivery. I mean, I'm thinking about, you know, with what you're saying, how many,
I don't want, this could sound douchey to the wrong audience. We don't want to do that.
Gang, you know me. But I'm thinking about how many opportunities I've turned down
because once passed through the filter set of me, I'm like, I can't authentically
vouch for that. Or the things that we do together, iHeart,
media automotive, like I can vouch for that because I believe in it because I'm already doing it.
You felt it. I mean, you felt it on the platform for crying out loud. Right.
I felt the impact of it. And there is a level of intangibility to it because I, you know,
what happens in my mind as a creator is, wait, this all happened because of a podcast?
And I feel like I'm haphazardly doing it at best, right? Then I can't imagine you probably think,
yeah, imagine if you really felt like you were doing it intentionally, the power of that.
For dealers, how should they be thinking about audio? Where does that fit in the mix? Where,
you know, we often have this divide where it's like, oh, that's the new age guy.
He's the podcaster. And then there's traditional. Are you, is there any evolution happening
there where it's more of a more complete media mix and not traditional versus new age?
For sure. Yeah. I think it's, you know, our mission is to provide a friend for people
wherever they are, whenever they want it. Right. And so we do that through all of these platforms
that's podcast or broadcast. We recently did a deal with TikTok, with TikTok creators and doing
segments in broadcast and also in podcast. Were you doing the drop of like it's hot?
Trend? I have a seven year old daughter. So I think that we're going to start to get into those
things. You're in six, seven territory right now. Yeah. Yeah. When I get the teenage going,
I'm going to be, I'm going to get all of those ones. I'm sure. But I think the cross-platform
stuff is so important because people consume the media and the audio in all of those platforms.
So finding that tie that binds and that right audience throughout is key.
It's like to validate this, right? I think, okay, yeah, we're doing video, but video is
actually the secondary to me. Audio is the number one thing for me because I think about, okay,
driving safety, audio I can do, minimizes the impact there. I'm not watching TV and, hey,
if you're watching TV shows in the car, driving down the freeway, the next time you do that,
don't. You've hacked your display is what you've done. Mowing the lawn, shoveling the driveway.
Like whatever it might be, I can consume audio. It is a way more, it is much more convenient
to consume audio than anything else in my opinion. And when done right, it can be a really immersive
experience. Very emotional. Yep. And it drives and that's really why for the car business
specifically, it's so important. This is an emotional large purchase for most people. Right.
Second largest purchase they make. Right. They want a trusted recommendation. They want it to feel
good. They want to connect with somebody and feel like it was the right thing to do and they want
to be happy about it. My mind, hold on, my brain's going to start oozing out of my ears. I'm having
a, I'm getting a revelation here. Even think about, okay, we do video reviews. I mean, there is
something to showing, hey, look at this. Imagine audio reviews of your favorite of a vehicle that
you're considering. Yeah. That you can just throw an air and your bud in or whatever it is.
And hear about the questions you have, have those questions answered. And I can't help but think,
hey, if your dealership's not going to do it, somebody else's is. Yeah. And the opportunity
there is such a level playing field right now. Think about this. This is kind of a fun one is
we talk about owning the car as a way to capitalize on audio. And it's, we say it like,
it's like if Crest could advertise in the mirror in the bathroom to somebody with yellow teeth.
So advertising in the car just makes sense. Right. When they're looking at nicer ones going by,
when they're thinking about how theirs is old, all that stuff, it is the place to be coupled
with the trust. Then you have that intent. I love that one. That, that is such a good point.
Where are you advertising your toothpaste? You're advertising it on TV. When I'm
chowing down on nacho cheese Doritos. Right. If there was a way to advertise that your teeth are
nasty is when you're in the mirror and you can see pretty good idea. Oh my gosh. The Vegas casinos
could be onto something because you know, they put the TV in the mirror and the, but anyways,
but they're not revenue stream for sure. The summation of what I'm feeling as you're speaking
really is this. It's, it's opportunity abounds, but you have to be looking from a different angle.
If you're not causing yourself to, to look at your circumstances, your technology,
what you're currently doing from marketing, penetration into the market, so on and so forth,
from a different angle, then you're going to keep doing the same thing, which is often,
I feel like perpetuated by trying to just catch up to your competitor. Not realizing
that often your competitors doing the same thing. They're looking at you trying to keep up with you
and we're like a murmuration of starling with no leader. Yeah. And everybody wants to, you know,
needs to talk about profitability these days. I go to profitability of when everybody is going
after these same people, these auto intenders and things. And it's, it's the auto intenders that are
shopping around a lot and all of that profitability starts to go down, right? When they're exposed,
everybody's pricing, right? Race to the bottom a little bit. There's a thing where I called the
auto intenders. These are the people that are going to buy a car, but they don't know it yet.
That through trust, you're changing their mind to say, it is a good time to do it.
These are the highest value customers out there because they already want to buy from you. They're
going to shop less places. They're going to say, I know where I'm going to go. I'm going to go buy
from Michael because I believe he's going to give me a good deal. I've heard about it through
whoever my referral source is in an authentic way. I'm going to go in and do that. So this
customer that walks in that probably doesn't ever submit a lead because they want to go to this
store. It's the highest value person that a dealership can have. Oh my gosh. I'm going to have to have you.
So all of it together starts to really make sense. You want to give them all the low funnel ways to
interact and come to you and all of that. But if they don't have that foundation of belief
that they're going to get the right deal at the right time and the right thing,
you know, it falls apart. It's an accessibility thing, which we need more and more and more of.
How accessible can I become to my target audience with the information that will actually help
them make better decisions for their family? Oh my gosh. And we love when dealers jump on and
get involved. Not everybody wants to do it. We use the influencers, but
you know, it's that authenticity that you talked about that really drives it. So
I love this conversation. We're going to have to have you back on and talk more about the auto
unintended. Hey, listen, we're at the auto media marketplace booth. We're being hosted by auto
media marketplace and I heart media automotive chat with my pal, Joey Zanitas. He's the EVP
at I heart media automotive. Man, how can those listening or watching get in touch with you and
learn more? I heart media, I'm sure is in your area. So look it up. If not, reach out to me, Joey
Zanitas on LinkedIn, or we've got, you know, auto specific leaders across the country. So
we can connect. You're the man. Thanks so much for joining me on the dealer. Thanks so much,
Michael. Appreciate it. Hey, thanks for listening to the dealer playbook podcast.
If you enjoyed tuning in, please subscribe, share and hit that like button. You can also
join us and the dpb community on social media. Check back next week for a new dealer playbook
episode. Thanks so much for joining.
About this episode
Joey Zanitis of iHeart Media Automotive argues that as AI personalizes content, people still crave “guaranteed human” trust—especially for big purchases like cars. He cites consumer study data showing heavy AI use but an even stronger preference for human voices and trusted recommendations. The conversation contrasts machine efficiency with human judgment, highlights the role of brand health in avoiding a lead-race downward spiral, and explains why audio matters (including podcasts, broadcast influencers, and cross-platform reach). Dealers are urged to invest in authentic, audience-fit storytelling rather than generic messaging.
AI is rapidly changing the automotive retail landscape. The question isn't whether it will impact your car dealership, but how to leverage it without alienating your customers. Are you ready to integrate AI in a way that amplifies, rather than diminishes, human connection and trust?
In this episode, you will learn:
Why 90% of consumers still prefer human interaction even while using AI.
How to use AI to drive "auto un-intenders" – high-value customers who aren't actively shopping – to your store.
The critical role of brand health in retaining loyal customers and avoiding the "race to the bottom" on pricing.
Practical strategies to make your dealership more accessible to your target audience using audio channels.
Joey Zanetis, Executive Vice President at iHeart Media Automotive, shares insights from extensive consumer studies on bridging the gap between cutting-edge AI and the timeless need for human connection in sales.
