Press Release

Oldsmobile Announces Marketing Partnership with HotWired's Packet Site

10/09/96

Oldsmobile Thinking Differently About Customer Relationships,
Marketing Partnership with HotWired Network's New Packet Site is
High-Tech, In-Touch

LANSING, Mich., Oct. 7 -- Oldsmobile today announced a
unique marketing partnership that demonstrates how it's thinking
differently about communicating with today's technology-savvy,
information-hungry customers and prospects.

Oldsmobile has agreed to become the exclusive sponsor of the HotWired
Network's new Packet site, launched last month. The carmaker is
launching its presence on the site today. Available at web address
www.packet.com, the site offers fresh daily reporting, analysis and
insight into the future of online business, technology and culture.

The one year agreement enables Oldsmobile not only to place brand
messages on the site, but also to experiment with innovative methods
of two-way consumer communication. The partnership also includes
future links back to the Oldsmobile web site (www.oldsmobile.com) and
to specific brand information for brands like the Aurora and
Bravada. HotWired and Oldsmobile will conduct several levels and types
of research throughout the year to tap consumer preferences,
communicate new product information and gauge the effectiveness of
moving marketing into the "editorial space."

"Oldsmobile gets it -- they appear to understand that talking with
consumers is the answer," said Hunter Madsen, vice president of
marketing at HotWired, Inc. "Go where today's savvy buyers go, be what
they ask you to be, provide information as desired, and deliver on
your promises -- that's what it takes to open a productive dialog with
potential customers."

The HotWired Network, a community of news, arts and entertainment and
a consistently top-rated site on the worldwide web, will feature
ongoing discussion from several leaders of the digital
revolution. Like Oldsmobile, these thought leaders are thinking
differently about what impact technology is having and will have on
all aspects of our lives. Ned Brainard, Michael Schrage, Simson
Garfinkel, and Andrew Leonard sound off Monday through Thursday,
respectively, while Friday features HotSeat, an audio program hosted
by National Public Radio's John McChesney and celebrity guests. The
site's email newsletter, PacketFlash, will serve as another
communication link with discerning customers.

"We saw an opportunity to both talk and listen on Packet," said Steve
Shannon, vice president of marketing at Oldsmobile. "Some say
listening is a lost art, but it's vital to our future as a leading
marketer of high-quality, customer-driven automobiles like the all-new
1997 Cutlass sedan and Silhouette minivan."

Partnering with Packet is another milestone in Oldsmobile's high-tech,
in-touch history. In addition to establishing oldsmobile.com and the
AOL Celebrity Circle and Showroom, their 1996 CD-ROM offering, The
Oldsmobile Virtual Showroom and U.S. Street Guide is seen as model for
at-home car shopping, with opportunities to interact with cars,
including manipulating 3-D graphics.