In a tense economic climate, automakers have cut their ad budgets.
Brandweek reports that traditional $50 million marketing campaigns are less popular than non-traditional launches--be it
online efforts or experiential events. This month, J.D. Power estimated that industry sales would drop 16% in 2008. eMarketer, New York predicted in a recent study that online ad spend among U.S. car
companies would increase from $2.5 billion in 2007 to $5.6 billion in 2012.