AutoTrader Gears Up for $40M Run, Shifts Into Brand-Sustaining Mode.

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Author: Wasserman, Todd

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Online used car dealer AutoTrader.com may have taken a pass on the Super Bowl, but that hasn't stopped it from handing off a $40 million sports-focused TV buy with emphasis on brand building rather than just driving traffic.

Placement, starting Feb. 5, includes TV buys during prime time NBA, NCAA basketball and NASCAR coverage with a likely extension to Major League Baseball and a revisit of 2000's season-long NFL run on Fox this fall. In lieu of print, the Atlanta-based company is planning a deal with American Media to swap advertising in Auto World Weekly for content on AutoTrader's site.

AutoTrader is also in talks with two major portals, possibly Yahoo! and Lycos, about becoming a primary used car partner, a status AutoTrader already has with America Online.

The effort, via Doner, Southfield, Mich., will rotate two of last year's spots with a new one that shows two Gen X-age buddies in a sci-fi milieu similar to The Matrix courtesy of special effects house Digital Domain. One of the buddies, a newbie to site, wonders where he can find a pick-up truck. The other, a site veteran, conjures dozens of trucks, which pop up like bread from a toaster until he finds an exact match. "How about a loan?" the neophyte wonders and dozens of briefcase-clad loan managers suddenly appear.

The creative is similar to last year's spots, but is "more human," said Clark Wood, vp-marketing? We wanted to show people interacting, having fun; he said, noting last year's Super Bowl spot showed a husband and wife "taking a very pragmatic approach" to finding an SUV. Tag is the same as last year's: "Your car is waiting?

Wood said passing on the Super Bowl was a tough call. "There's been so much press about the demise of dot-coms, we just wanted to do the Super Bowl to show we're still around and doing well? he said.

PHOTO (COLOR): Gen-X buddies on quest for a pick-up.

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By Todd Wasserman