LoJack Goes Online With Marketing

LoJack Corp., the company that makes an electronic system to help in tracking stolen cars, is going straight to the car dealers — the online car dealers, that is — in a marketing effort to capture the new generation of car buyers that are searching for vehicles on the Internet.

The company has struck deals with Autobytel.com, Carsmart.com and AutoTrader.com as part of the company’s new advertising and marketing program.

“This year it is expected that 65 percent of those in the market for a new vehicle will go to the Internet for information. This figure is up from 40 percent in 1999 and was only 25 percent two years ago,” said Joseph Abely, president.

“Our goal is to leverage this Internet phenomenon to directly support our key selling channel: the car dealer.”

The company will receive integrated content on sites such as Autobytel.com, CarSmart.com, and AutoTrader.com, and it will also have banner ads on other automotive sites such as KBB.com (Kelley Blue Book) and AutoWeb.com. Additionally, its ads will appear in the auto buying content of broader sites such as Yahoo, GeoCities and registered user sites.

“Vehicle buyers who use the Internet are highly educated consumers and our experience has shown that these are LoJack’s best customers,” Abely said.