AutoTrader.com lifted by 'Big guy'

AutoTrader.com lifted by 'Big guy'

To drive more new car searchers to its site, AutoTrader.com launched a new car center microsite and multichannel “Big guy” campaign last month.

Doner Advertising worked on the tele­vision spot for the campaign, which fea­tured a giant man (the “Big guy”) who approached several car dealerships, picked up a few different cars and compared them side-by-side. The spot drew atten­tion to new search functionality on the AutoTrader site allowing users to compare new cars from local dealers.

The company's recently appointed interactive agency of record Critical Mass replicated that execution, in a homepage takeover on AutoTrader.com, which ran for three weeks, according to Brett McCarey, manager of consumer online advertising for the site.

“AutoTrader has been known mostly for being a used car site, although it's always had a good amount of information on new cars,” said Scott Shamberg, SVP of marketing and media at Critical Mass.

The campaign launched on May 5 and will run through August. In addition to the television spot and homepage take-over, AutoTrader also sent out an e-mail blast to its internal database of approximately 133,000 users, McCarey said.

Display advertising was placed on about 12 properties including Askmen.com, iVillage.com and Disney.com, and the company partnered with the NBA for pre-game text alerts.