TORONTO and REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 13, 2001 — MSN® Carpoint® .ca, the most visited car-buying site in Canada, today announced the introduction of its new site content and features, including innovative advertising products, industry-leading Top Ten lists and expanded editorial content from Carpoint.ca’s team of expert automotive journalists. The new services empower consumers with information throughout the car-buying and ownership process and help the automotive industry reach its target audience — car buyers and owners.
As the exclusive auto channel for MSN.CA, Carpoint.ca offers the automotive industry the ability to reach MSN.CA’s more than 5.8 million monthly visitors through these new products. Carpoint.ca provides the auto industry with the opportunity to introduce new models through its New Model Launch, as well as showcase existing vehicles through the Car of the Month feature. Both features offer first-of-its-kind placement on Carpoint.ca’s home page and include links to content dedicated to that particular vehicle.
In addition, Carpoint.ca is embracing new advertising technologies such as the Skyscraper advertisement, located immediately to the right of the home page, which spans the entire length of the page, and is the most prominent real estate for advertisers on the site. Carpoint.ca’s new Content Module, located in the center of the home page, allows advertisers to display their company’s branding alongside action-orientated links that direct users to specific areas of their Web site. The Content Module is also available on the Finance and Insurance page. Both are deeply integrated into the product and can be updated regularly.
“We’re in a unique position to deliver the automotive industry the largest pool of online car buyers throughout Canada,”
said Ruth D’Souza, general manager of Carpoint.ca.
“Carpoint.ca’s more than 400,000 monthly visitors rely on us for accurate and comprehensive information that helps them make better-educated decisions about their vehicles. The new features we’ve added to the site make it easier than ever for consumers to be better informed about the car-buying experience and for manufacturers and dealers to reach Canada’s largest pool of targeted automotive consumers.”
Carpoint.ca’s editorial team, led by Editor Marc Lachapelle, now adds exclusive articles such as Getting Ready for the Canadian Winter and Fuel-Saving Tips weekly to help consumers with their everyday car-buying and -owning needs. The introduction of Top Ten lists offers users information on the most requested vehicles on Carpoint.ca, while new model reviews provide in-depth knowledge of their overall performance and value. The new home page design makes it even easier for car buyers throughout Canada to access listings of used cars in their areas.
About MSN.CA
MSN.CA is Canada’s most visited Web network, with 5.8 million unique visitors every month. MSN.CA hosts a suite of online services delivering news, information, entertainment, and a variety of communication tools including MSN Hotmail® Web-based e-mail service — the world’s leading globally accessible free Web-based e-mail service — and MSN Search. MSN.CA also provides such high-quality interactive services as MSN Messenger Service, MSN Explorer, MSN eShop, MSN Web Communities and many more for the Microsoft® Windows® operating system. More information is available at http://www.msn.ca/ .
About Carpoint.ca
Launched in September 2000, Toronto-based MSN Carpoint.ca is the most visited online automotive site in Canada. The fully bilingual Carpoint.ca site is an independent, all-makes, all-models resource that provides consumers with the broadest range of services to find a car they love at a price they can afford. With information from product reviews and surround videos to new and used car-buying services, visitors can research, compare cars, select or configure the car they want to purchase, and receive detailed information from the Carpoint network of Canadian dealers across the nation.
The technology and design of Carpoint.ca is modeled after Carpoint.com, the award-winning U.S. car buying and ownership site, visited by more than 7 million consumers each month.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft, MSN, Carpoint, Hotmail and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.
