• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Thursday, June 7, 2007 11:30 AM

Automotive site Edmunds.com has dubbed the Dodge Ram Pickup 1500 an editors' top pick. Adjacent to the glowing review, a prominent ad for rival General Motors' Chevy Silverado has appeared in recent weeks, touting its position as the 2007 Motor Trend Truck of the Year.

The placement tactic is called "conquesting"-- an increasingly popular form of online advertising. Marketers take out ads right next to editorial content about their rivals. The aim is to convert consumers from one brand to another--and also to issue a public challenge. The practice--started in the auto industry--is spreading to other areas, like entertainment and financial services.

Since Web advertisers often can choose to target their ads specifically to certain topics or key words, conquest strategies are shifting from online searches to banner ads. Edmunds.com recently banned an automaker from buying out the entire ad inventory adjacent to reviews about its own brands, insuring that some space is always reserved for a competing carmaker to conquest.

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