• by February 6, 2001

By Adam Bernard

AutoTrader.com, an Internet marketplace for buyers and sellers of used vehicles, has unveiled the company's new marketing campaign, which will build on the momentum of last year's successful mass market television advertising debut.

According to Clark Wood, VP of marketing for AutoTrader.com, rather than focusing their efforts, and more importantly, budget, on one big event like they did last year with the Super Bowl, they want to reach their target demographic, men aged 18-49, through a variety of ongoing sports sponsorships, building nationwide awareness.

The $40 million campaign will include a new broadcast commercial and a combination of multiple broadcast spots and online exposure that target used car shoppers with ad buys during prime time television, including NBA games.

The spots will run aggressively throughout the NBA season on Turner Sports, including commercials during the playoffs and All Star weekend. AutoTrader.com will also sponsor an online contest on CNNSI.com, where viewers vote for the best trades made by NBA teams. Winners will be entered into a drawing to win a trip for two to visit the Inside the NBA set.

AutoTrader.com has also bought time during NCAA basketball games, including the Final Four and Championship games, and NASCAR, for the first half of 2001. Other major sports will also be targeted during the remainder of 2001.

The campaign will continue to use their successful tag line, "Your Car is Waiting," and will emphasize how AutoTrader.com empowers consumers. Jupiter Communications expects that by 2004, online-influenced new vehicle sales are expected to exceed $128 billion, and approximately 1.3 million cars will be sold online that year, a large increase from the mere 17,000 sold online in 1999. J.D. Power & Associates' 2000 Used AutoShopper.com Study reported that AutoTrader.com is the leading Internet destination for used vehicles buyers, netting twenty-one percent of all the online car sales. In year over year comparisons, AutoTrader.com's user base has grown 300% to over 4 million per month, and has seen a 150% increase in the number of vehicle searches (from 6 million per month, to 16 million per month). Average monthly page views have increased from 17 million to 98 million and average monthly unique visitors have more than doubled from 1.9 million to 3.9 million.

- Adam Bernard may be reached at AdamBernard@mediapost.com