• The Wall Street Journal, Thursday, October 9, 2008 11:45 AM

It's become commonplace in recent years for advertisers to buy all the ad space in a single magazine or on a single TV show. But Honda is taking the sole-sponsor approach to a whole new level with a plan to buy all of Sony's Web and mobile ad space for one week starting today in order to promote the launch of the Fit.

The idea, as with any sole-sponsor deal, is to break through the clutter. "It's more challenging to get your online display ads noticed in the first place, but once you do capture the site visitor's attention, the branding can be very powerful if you own the environment," Gould said. Honda is banking that consumers will notice how frequently they're seeing the Fit ads and pay attention.

Not surprisingly, Sony executives said they will be looking for opportunities to replicate this deal with other marketers, saying it's "the perfect fit" for what advertising on the Web should be. (Apparently, Honda's deal extends to executive quotations as well.)

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »