AP: Pioneer Web Ads Aim at Car Enthusiasts

Audio-equipment maker Pioneer Corp. hopes to send young car enthusiasts racing from a magazine to a mouse with a new blitz offering television-quality ads on Web sites.

The move comes as part of a campaign so low-key that most consumers will be barely aware of it - which is just the way the manufacturer of consumer electronics wants it. The ads target a select cadre of automobile hobbyists known as "Tuners." […]

Each print ad contains a one-word slogan - "Disturb," "Defy," "Disrupt" and "Ignite" - designed to get Tuners to move from a published page to a Web-based one (a special Web site has been designed for each of the words). Once there, Tuners may view mini-movies; check out an animated commercial; download screen savers; and view Pioneer products and information.

This campaign is quite a nice mix of advocacy, viral and advertainment marketing, however it does seem flawed to me that they are not targeting these "Tuners" through online publications/sites. On a similar note, why only distribute the content through microsites, why not take it to the sites where this target group hangs out?