At GM, 25% of Marketing Dollars Doled Out to Digital

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=129915

GM has moved almost a quarter of its media spending into digital in the past three years, Mark LaNeve, GM's VP-vehicle sales service and marketing for North America, told Advertising Age. That includes online ads, home-page takeovers, search, sites for dealers and customer-relationship management.

Online auto advertising will reach $2.8 billion this year and is projected to hit $4 billion by 2010, said Steve Wilhite, a veteran auto marketer who is president of Jumpstart Automotive Media, a rep firm for online auto publishers and sites. "TV is horrifically inefficient," and the internet can better reach the roughly 11 million Americans shopping for a new or used car in any given month, he said. He recommended that car companies cut their TV spending in half and use it only for major product launches, limited-time sales or big news, such as GM's introduction of its beefed-up warranty in fall 2006. Of course, given his job, that's not a surprise.