National Press Release

Complete dealership display advertising service at 20-30% the cost of traditional media

SEATTLE, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Cobalt, the leading provider of automotive marketing services, announced the launch of its PowerDisplay(SM) advertising service today. PowerDisplay is the first online display advertising solution designed exclusively for automotive marketing that is accessible to any auto dealer currently doing brand advertising. Provided as a turnkey service, PowerDisplay delivers dealer brand messaging to automotive shoppers in the dealer's local area for fractions of a penny per impression. PowerDisplay delivers impressions that are more targeted at automotive shoppers yet typically 20-30% of the cost of traditional local broadcast media, in a service that is fully integrated with the rest of a dealer's digital marketing effort. Unlike traditional media, dealers will not have to pay and then hope their advertising works; with PowerDisplay they will only pay for results - advertising that generates shopper visits to the dealer's website and showroom.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071213/COBALTLOGO)

Key aspects of the PowerDisplay solution are:

    --  Optimized for Automotive Marketing: Design, placement and measurement of
        display advertising is optimized for the needs of automotive dealers,
        rather than being a generic service.  Cobalt Display Marketing
        Specialists are automotive marketing experts.
    --  Brand Awareness: Affordable brand exposure for dealers where consumers
        shop online.
    --  Targeted Reach: PowerDisplay goes out and finds consumers that are
        currently engaged with automotive web content in the dealer's local
        market.
    --  Turnkey Solution: Cobalt Display Marketing Specialists work directly
        with the dealer to ensure successful implementation and measurement of
        display advertising.
    --  Pay-for-Performance: A unique pay-for-click model means a dealer does
        not pay to show the ad, they pay for the traffic that advertisement
        brings their dealership.

NADA(1) reports that the average auto dealer spends up to 65% of their marketing budget on local broadcast media - TV, Radio and Newspaper - yet more than 80% of automotive shoppers use the Internet as their primary resource during their buying process. Until now, only automobile manufacturers and a small percentage of dealers have had the expertise and been able to afford online display advertising. PowerDisplay makes this cost-effective marketing tool available to all dealers in a turnkey service to help them save money on advertising their dealerships' websites while reaching more active automotive shoppers. With PowerDisplay the average dealer can have a high impact, highly measurable, online advertising program for a fraction of the cost of their traditional media budget.

PowerDisplay is Cobalt's latest addition to the industry's most comprehensive suite of dealer marketing services, including Dealer Websites, Lead Services, Search and Owner Marketing. It is fully integrated into Cobalt's unique marketing results reporting. Cobalt dealers who embrace the company's entire digital marketing suite not only maximize their marketing return-on-investment, they can manage their marketing pipeline from awareness through showroom visit the same way they manage their sales floor.

"PowerDisplay has been a tremendous asset to our organization," said Shaun Weissman, Manager of Business Development for Rallye BMW of Westbury, NY. "Geo-targeting and contextual placement ensure that we are effectively targeting customers who are actively engaged in automotive content online in our market. We continue to see great results and are proactively minimizing our traditional media marketing budgets to invest in display."

Cobalt's PowerDisplay service complements a dealer's website, email and search marketing efforts by increasing the exposure of their brand early in the consumer buying cycle. As documented in a 2008 Specific Media(TM) study of comScore(TM) data, display and search work together to maximize marketing productivity. Brand-and segment-related searches (for cars, automakers and vehicle classes) jumped by more than 100% in several categories after consumers were exposed to display ads for those brands.

"Dealers have been looking for a way to capture upper funnel customers and raise brand awareness more cost-effectively than with television," said Max Steckler, Vice President of Advertising Products at Cobalt. "Cobalt's PowerDisplay offers them the best opportunity for creating targeted brand awareness that is affordable, effective and easy to execute."

"We chose Cobalt's PowerDisplay solution after testing out display with Cobalt and a competitor. Cobalt's cost per visit was 50% less than the competitor, it delivered more than twice the exposures, and increased leads," said Xavier Brizar, Manager of Biddulph Mazda of Peoria, Arizona. "In addition, the campaign strategy I receive from my Cobalt Display Marketing Specialist is second to none and continues to add to our success."

PowerDisplay is available immediately. To learn more about PowerDisplay, please visit http://www.cobalt.com/displayads/ or call 866.200.5099.

About Cobalt

Cobalt is North America's leading provider of automotive marketing services. For fourteen years, Cobalt's mission has been to help automobile dealers and manufacturers increase their retailing effectiveness and profitability. Cobalt provides marketing services to half of the automotive dealerships in the United States, as well as automotive dealers in Canada and Mexico. Cobalt's marketing services are endorsed by approximately two-thirds of the world's major automotive manufacturers.

(1) NADA Data 2007, National Association of Automotive Dealers

    Media Contact:
    Amy Hatch
    Marketing Manager
    Cobalt
    206-219-8132
    ahatch@cobalt.com

SOURCE Cobalt