GMC Takes Product Integration to the Next Level

DETROIT - GMC has taken product integration to the next level by partnering with Scripps Network to develop an online video magazine with a new site titled Living.com. Set to launch today, Living.com will feature branded broadband content from Scripps' leading lifestyle networks - HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network and Fine Living along with integrated streaming videos from GMC covering eight lifestyle categories - Decorating, Kitchen & Baths, Food, Outdoor Living, Travel & Automotive, e-Living/Health, Real Estate, and Remodeling - and will be updated every two weeks.

The site will feature 40 custom produced lifestyle videos of GMC trucks allowing consumers to see how GMC vehicles enable their home life activities. Each of the long-form broadband segments last from one to three minutes, and will be incorporated across the eight lifestyle categories throughout the year.

“Living.com gives GMC the opportunity to provide unexpected product information to targeted consumers in a easy to use, magazine-like format, “ said Steve Rosenblum, GMC marketing director. “The content fits nicely with our professional grade platform and allows us to communicate in a non-automotive context.”

Unlike the content on the Scripps branded websites, Living.com integrates advertiser messages and GMC trucks, including a special “GMC product showroom” containing a product overview and the ability to click through to GMC.com.

"We were asked to create a totally new environment for GMC, a form of custom programming that contains compelling content for the consumer while merging the advertiser message," says Channing Dawson, senior vice president of Emerging Media for Scripps Networks. "This is a great test pilot for advertisers to experiment with various forms of broadband messaging."

"We know from our own websites that these are very popular topics with web users and, in particular, the early adopters of broadband," Dawson said. “Other advertisers are expected to join GMC in utilizing the test site.”

GMC has been at the forefront of product integration including the unprecedented placement on the trademark Hank Williams “Are You Ready For Some Football?” opening of ABC’s Monday Night Football. The 2004 Monday Night Football placement included shots of a GMC Sierra Crew Cab and a Yukon XL Denali representing the first time a company’s product has been featured in the opening. GMC will also be exclusively featured in the Monday Night Football opening this fall.

In addition, two GMC Yukon XL Denali’s made their debut as new “cast members” on CSI as the program’s new Mobile Analysis Units. Bravo’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the Style Network’s Guess Who’s Coming to Decorate, TLC’s Trading Spaces and While You Were Out and the Spanish language show Asi se Hace are among the many other programs featuring GMC trucks.

GMC is a division of General Motors Corporation. The division markets the Sierra, Yukon, Envoy, Canyon, Savana, Safari and Topkick. GMC's lineup of professional grade trucks deliver outstanding capabilities that exceed customers' expectations with unique features and design elements. GMC sold more than 602,000 vehicles in 2004, setting a divisional sales record for the 11th time in 12 years. More information on GMC and its products can be found at www.media.gm.com and www.gmc.com.