Automotive Information Center Offers Integrated Content Advertising

Automotive Information Center (AIC), a provider of objective information on new and used vehicles, said it plans an in-house, integrated content advertising program on its AutoSite to meet the challenges of advertising on the internet.

Westborough, MA-based AutoSite’s primary audience is the undecided automobile consumer in the research-to-buy mode. AutoSite, which features a 30,000 page online automotive buyer’s guide, said its advertising focus is to offer in-context, activity-based advertising that allows the advertiser to take advantage of AutoSite’s core automotive pricing and specification database.

“At AutoSite, our in-house advertising approach is to combine flexibility and service with our knowledge of our site and our audience to provide advertisers with an effective and customized campaign,” said Heidi Lehmann, AutoSite’s business development manager.

AutoSite’s reports can be customized with bold text and clickable images that allow auto manufacturers to emphasize their product’s advantages. AutoSite-hosted pages linked from the report explain the highlighted features in detail. Links can also be integrated into the report that connect directly to selected areas on manufacturer Web sites, funneling interested traffic directly to the manufacturer.

Lehmann added that “by offering advertisers the ability to integrate informative content with AutoSite’s vast database, advertisers can attract the undecided auto consumer and begin to tap into the true advertising potential of the internet.”

Banner sales are still an important part of AIC’s advertising plan, but the new program offers advertisers a way to take advantage of AutoSite’s superior content at a time when many consumers may be undecided on which car to buy.