GM floods Net with Malibu ads

— -- General Motors gm fired up an online ad extravaganza last week to begin driving home its message for its redesigned 2008 Chevrolet Malibu.

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.

Toyota also deployed this tactic last week. It saturated 130 major newspaper and local TV websites — such as NYPost.com and HoustonChronicle.com — with ads for its redesigned 2008 Highlander SUV.

•Create fun, informative "minisites" in Web ads. Small pop-up boxes on portal home pages offered a tour of the Malibu's interior and exterior.

A Toyota Highlander banner by agency Saatchi & Saatchi LA, showed the SUV in different colors and let shoppers get a map to the closest dealer.

•Snatch up search terms. Use of Internet search engines by car shoppers has led car companies to buy keywords from search companies to make links to their sites come up with search results.

Choice of terms can be creative — and not all auto-focused.

For a cravings-themed ad campaign for its CR-V, Honda hmcad agency RPA paid for its links to show up on searches for "chocolate," "coffee" and "cookie." The sponsored links took users to crave.honda.com.

Some crafty companies also home in on terms related to rivals. In 2005, GM bought "Kermit" and "green," says marketing company Reprise Media, after Ford aired a Super Bowl ad starring Kermit the Frog.

•Offbeat video. To promote its youth-oriented Fit brand, Honda sponsored Sony's Minisodes Network. The online "network" shows episodes of old series such as Charlie's Angels and Fantasy Island, that have been condensed to four to six minutes each at myspace.com/minisodenetwork and Crackle.com.

•Make friends at social sites. Jeep has worked with MySpace and Facebook to create profiles and videos for its vehicles. "Friends" discuss topics such as how many miles they've logged in their Jeep.

"It's not enough for us to just eavesdrop on the (online) conversation" about Jeep, says Sam Cannon, executive creative director at Jeep ad agency Organic. "We wanted to bring something to the party."

Contributing: James R. Healey

NEW & NOTABLE

Gatorade hopes Tiger is grrrr-eat for growth

PepsiCo's pep Gatorade and golf champ Tiger Woods have teamed to launch a Tiger line of sports drinks.

It's a first for Woods: The endorsement magnate has backed cars, sporting goods, financial services and razors — but never a beverage.

It's also a first for Gatorade: The brand has never before licensed an athlete's name for a new product.

The first Tiger-inspired product off the tee will be a sports drink officially deemed Gatorade Tiger. The Tiger name dominates the label, and "Gatorade" is less prominent. The line will have cherry, citrus and grape flavors — selected by Woods — and hit store shelves in March.

Gatorade still has more than 80% of the sports-drink market share but could use a little more roar in its growth trend. Sales were slightly down for the third quarter, and the brand is facing increased competition from new rivals such as Cadbury Schweppes' Accelerade.

Strike a pose, pooch.

Wondering what to buy the pet-obsessed dog owner this holiday? Fret no more. Now you can get vanity dog food with any pup's face — and name — on the label.

But it doesn't come cheap. A six-pack of "Paw Made" Designer Doggie Labels by Castor & Pollux Pet Works goes for $24.95 plus shipping.

Folks can upload a photo of any dog for the customized canned food at castorpolluxpet.com. As for the food itself, it's all natural, made with fruit, veggies and beef.

Yet, doggie owners do have to face a tough decision after feeding Fido: what to do with the cans when the food's gone.

Eco envy.

Americans may talk the "green" talk, but Europeans appear to walk the "green" walk.

Europeans are 50% more likely than Americans to buy "green" products — from solar panels to hybrid cars to organic foods — according to a new lifestyles study from Porter Novelli and the Natural Marketing Institute. The online study of 16,000 adult consumers across eight European countries was done in July.

Europeans also are 25% more likely to recycle. And they're 32% more likely to be motivated to buy products carrying Earth-friendly seals of approval.

When it comes to making green from green, overseas investors are also more Earth-friendly than those in the USA.

After factoring out what is the obvious top goal for any company — to make money for shareholders or owners — Europeans are 25% more likely than U.S. consumers to say that the most important task for a company is to be sensitive to its environmental impact.

Maybe Al Gore should run for office there.

Olympic marketing watch: Hot to trot.

China-based computer maker Lenovo has adopted a slogan of "New World. New Thinking." On Wednesday, the Olympic sponsor will wrap up online voting in its global search for three "New Thinkers" with "the most original idea" for carrying the Olympic torch in a segment of the relay leading to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

More than 6,000 people who are hot to carry the flame submitted essays to Lenovo about their ideas. Past Olympic volleyballers Kerri Walsh and Misty May helped the company cut the list to 18 finalists to compete in the online voting.

Each finalist then created a 30-second video about why they want to run, and Lenovo posted the videos at Lenovo.com/torch for, as the site explains, "YOU to decide who we will be flying over to the beautiful Shangri-La in Yunnan province, China, to run the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay on June 8th, 2008."

The full relay, beginning in Greece in March, will travel through five continents before arriving in Beijing on Aug. 8.

By Laura Petrecca, Bruce Horovitz, Theresa Howard

ASK THE AD TEAM

Q. A song on a TV ad for Old Navy ends with, "I love the way you call me baby." Who sings it? What is the song?

A. The track promoting Old Navy's Fair Isle sweaters is The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson, whose second self-released album, Girls and Boys, came out in January. Michaelson, 26, lives with her parents in Staten Island, N.Y., when she is not touring. Her commercial break came a year ago when a track of hers was used on ABC's Grey's Anatomy. Then a new song, Keep Breathing, was prominently featured in the show's May finale.

Michaelson is among up-and-comers that Old Navy ads have been featuring. A back-to-school ad used Blue Alert by Madeleine Peyroux, another folksy-sounding songbird.

"Both are part of our interest in using undiscovered artists that appeal to our target audience and have that wow factor," says spokeswoman Nicole Bender.

Q. What can you tell us about the male model who runs through a lake in the Excedrin Back & Body ad? I say he was also in an SUV ad a year ago, where he rides a motorcycle and trades places with a woman in an SUV. My partner says he used to be a clothes model for Structure.

A. Rusty Joiner, 34, is the athlete running in the Excedrin ad (See the ad). He also did swap vehicles with a sexy woman in a Suzuki ad last year.

And your partner has a good eye — and memory. In 1998, Joiner started baring his buff bod as Structure's underwear model in a two-year deal.

More about this beefcake from Alabama now living in Los Angeles: He went to Georgia Southern University, where he was an athlete, cheerleader and gymnastics coach.

He's done print ads for Abercrombie & Fitch, Prada, Levi's and Jockey. He's pitched Coca-Cola and Pepsi. He's also done Budweiser and Coors Light TV ads.

Acting credits include episodes of The Closer and CSI and movies Dodgeball and Resident Evil: Extinction.

He's also been a cover guy on Men's Fitness, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Men's Health.