GM floods Net with Malibu ads

— -- Interactive ads for the launch of the midsize family sedan — on sale Nov. 1 — were splashed across more than 50 high-traffic websites on Wednesday, including ESPN.com, Weather.com and Oprah.com, as well as on portal homepages including AOL and MSN. In addition, Chevy ran the ads on its own sites.

GM says the online "roadblock" (ad speak for buying ads across a medium's major outlets at the same time) was seen by about 80% of online users on Wednesday. The launch of the Malibu — a key entry for GM in the competitive category led by Toyota's Camry and Honda's Accord — also includes outdoor, print and TV ads.

"The objective is to get on people's radar screens," says Kim Kosak, Chevy's general director of advertising and sales promotion. "We're the underdog."

Kosak wouldn't reveal Chevy's ad budget for the launch but said Web spending, which will run at least through the first quarter of 2008, will be up to 25%.

That reflects the growing importance of Web marketing to car manufacturers. Not including what they spend for their own sites, automakers are expected to spend $2.5 billion on U.S. Internet ads this year, up 30% from 2006, according to eMarketer.

Making Web buzz crucial is that 70% of car shoppers now research the purchase online, according to J.D. Power and Associates. "Ten years ago, people used to go to dealerships about six times before they made a car decision," says Sandy Schadler, a digital strategist at Chevy ad agency Campbell-Ewald. With online homework, "that's reduced to about 1.7 times."

The Malibu rolls out as such economic news as housing and credit woes has put a brake on sales. U.S. car and truck sales through September this year are down 2.8% from the period last year, reports Autodata.

Some online ad tactics carmakers are using:

•Use ads to send consumers to brand homepages. Chevy's roadblock goal was to lure at least 5 million folks to Chevy.com on Wednesday — the number it normally takes a month to get.

Ads in other media also now aim to send people online for a full-strength sell: "In a print ad or 30-second TV, you can't give the full product information story," says Jeep's head spokesman, Jay Kuhnie.

If you get people to a brand's site, "They can find out more about the vehicle and say, 'Yes, this fits for me.' "

•Ensure notice with roadblocks. An ad roadblock is a simultaneous ad buy so big it catches most users of a medium at that time. It can be with Internet ads (such as Chevy's buy), newspaper space or TV time.