GM to Shift $1.5b to Online Advertising

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

General Motors may be singularly unwilling to tell its shareholders and stakeholders when the company will return to profitability (or exactly how they're going to get there), but they're happy to announce a three-year plan for their annual ad spend. And the winner is.. online media. GM says it will allocate fully $1.5b of its $3b annual advertising budget to the Internet. The revelation keeps the death knell pealing for newspapers. According to followthemedia, GM's 2007 online display ad spend clocked-in at somewhere between $193m to $208m. At the same time, America's most profligate auto advertiser trimmed newspaper advertising by 32 percent, to $149.3m. The new Internet-heavy target will also eat into TV advertising. And where GM leads– in ad spending anyway– other automakers follow. "You know it’s getting dangerous for traditional media," scribe Steven Stone wars. "When the likes of Joel Ewanick, Marketing VP for Hyundai Motor America, says, 'Online is getting to the point where it may be more important than the 30-second spot.'" So look for GM advertising on TTAC soon. In other news, Hell is getting chilly.

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Raymond Hieber Raymond Hieber on Mar 21, 2008

    I think sometimes internet ads work... I've pushed 3 or 4 links in my life on things that interested me and I'd be buying shorty. The Mazda one on this site for the $199 lease on those Mazdas got me interested in the Miata. I even went in and took a look and drove one. They offered me less out of pocket than that special and even ate part of the tax... I was on the verge of closing it, but reality set in and I checked what my insurance would be... more than my 3 other junkers combined (liability for those only), so I took a pass. Robert's ad did work, though, because ultimately I told my sister about going there, and I went with her that night where she closed on the same car I wanted at the same deal. The only thing I found stupid about it was they never asked verbally or written how I (we) became interested in a Miata... I wonder how they gauge the effectiveness of the ad then?

  • Jaje Jaje on Mar 21, 2008

    Task: update my Firefox browser with popup blocker, script blocker and ad blocker.

  • Robert Schwartz Robert Schwartz on Mar 21, 2008

    Jaje: Firefox blocks pop-ups and scripts automatically, or by changing the setting in the Edit:Preferences menu item. You can also download AdBlock Plus, which I highly recommend.

  • Peoplewatching04 Peoplewatching04 on Mar 21, 2008

    I'd rather take the bus than drive a Chevy Cavalier.

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