Is there an advantage to launching a new car entirely on the Internet?
Well, General Motors is hoping so since it introduced its new Pontiac G5 strictly on-line.
Some advantages to the move are shorter lead time and tight ad budgeting. Virtually (pardon the pun) no money, for example, was allocated for the launch since there was no need to create a television ad and therefore no shooting costs and no time had to be purchased.
The result? 1,569 new G5s were sold in its first month, reported Automotive News. Dealers couldn't keep them in stock.
It worked because the target market, young males, gets their information from the Internet.
Search words in the presentation were highlighted by Google so it would bring visitors to the G5 site. More importantly, there was a digital music offer on the G5 site. The first 500 people to buy a G5 will get a year's worth of music downloads.
According to GM, the G5 will be marketed digitally for as long as the model exists.
Our take? Way to go, GM! Thinking out of the box just may bring the car manufacturer back with a bang!