Launch of Motors.co.uk campaign drives advertising revenue

Northcliffe Media looks to drive advertising revenue with launch of Motors.co.uk brand campaign

• £500k campaign in Midlands to kick off UK-wide Motors.co.uk branding initiative
• Northcliffe integrates findaproperty, jobsite & motors.co.uk across online and offline platforms from May 1st
• Latest campaign part of wider strategy to bring DMGT’s online classified expertise to advertisers and consumers

London: 2 May, 2008

Northcliffe Media, regional news and information publisher and part of DMGT (Daily Mail General Trust), has today unveiled its new advertising campaign to support the launch of Motors.co.uk across online and print brands.

The £500k campaign will kick off on May 5th with 96, 48 and 6 sheet outdoor posters as well as bus ads across the Midlands in cities including Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Stoke, Tamworth and Litchfield. Motors.co.uk will also launch its first ever TV adverts, to be screened across the region from the beginning of June.

The campaign will be supported by press advertising highlighting the benefits of a free history check offered from the brand, editorial pieces within the regions’ Northcliffe Media titles, and a giant 10 foot wheel, which will become the brand’s identity for future campaigns and used to tour around regional and national events. Through the ads Motors.co.uk is targeting both consumers looking for their next car and dealerships which are looking for new ways to attract customers.

This campaign forms part of Northcliffe’s broader strategy of bringing online classified expertise from its parent company, DMGT, to its extensive local audience. The push supports the extension of the Motors.co.uk brand, as well as Findaproperty and Jobsite, into the offline arena from their online roots. From May 1st the three brands will become Northcliffe Media’s de facto online and offline channels for cars, jobs and property creating a consistent brand message and proposition across the company’s regional papers and ‘this is’ sites. The aim is to provide consumers and advertisers with consistency of brand for all their recruitment, property and motors needs – whether through Northcliffe Media’s newspaper classified supplements or its growing network of 56 local ‘this is’ websites (e.g. www.thisisbristol.co.uk).

The television ads are airing from the beginning of June across the Midlands region. They will feature the giant wheel, a concept which was created by Leeds-based advertising and media buying agency, Principles. Additional paid search activity is being supported by specialist agency, Fusion Unlimited.

Sean Mahon, Director of Marketing at Northcliffe Media said: “By fully integrating these expert classified brands and platforms through print and online, we can offer our local consumer and advertiser audiences best in class solutions to fulfil both their brand building and response requirements’.

-ENDS-
 
Notes to Editors
 
Press contacts for Northcliffe Media :
Nelson Bostock Communications
Nick Clark - nick.clark@nelsonbostock.com / 020 7792 7464
Bethan Thomas – bethan.thomas@nelsonbostock.com / 020 7792 7425

Northcliffe Media
Director of Marketing, Northcliffe Media – Sean Mahon, sean.mahon@northcliffemedia.co.uk
 
Northcliffe Media
Northcliffe Media has built upon its role as one of the UK’s largest regional news publishers and established itself as a fully integrated multimedia information provider in order to best serve its audience.

Operating from multiple publishing centres it publishes in excess of 100 newspaper titles each week and operates a growing network of 56 local media websites. The company continues to grow rapidly throughout Europe, with major publishing interests in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia

About motors.so.uk
Launched in 2007, and was launched to offer car buyers advice and guidance covering every part of the car buying process, to help motorists make informed choices about their next car.

The site has over 200,000 used cars listed on its site and is the first in the UK to run free security checks on all vehicles before they are offered for sale.

In just over a year motors.co.uk has grown the become the UK’s third largest used car website, signing major partnerships with websites including Yahoo! Cars, TopGear.com, Fifth Gear, The Independent, The Daily Mail and Teletext Cars. Over 2.3 million car buyers visit the network every month.

Its total number of partner websites currently stands at over 100 – offering more advertising routes for dealers than any other portal. The site has also introduced unique features for dealers, including call tracking and instant messaging.