It’s no secret that it’s a tough market for the Auto industry now, and for the auto makers who are holding up, they are aware of how important it is to stand out in this competitive environment.

At last week’s New York Auto Show, Land Rover unveiled their new vehicle, as well as a promotional campaign that incited a lot of talks around the water cooler at ad agencies everywhere.

Using the same concept as a media buy, Land Rover paid 4500 Tweeters to post and comment about “Land Rover” and include a “#LRNY” tag at the end of their posts to optimize their name search. Even though many other car companies like Ford and Honda have a successful presence on Twitter, according to Brand Republic, Land Rover are the first to openly brand themselves on Twitter.

Land Rover have essentially created a new way to sponsor Tweets -but is it in “good taste”? So far no other brands has been reported to follow in Land Rover’s Twitter sponsoring concept yet.

However, suffice to say, if a brand with a loyal following uses the same strategy e.g. an Artist to promote their upcoming tour, it could be an effective alternative to a media spend in addition to a traditional ad-buy to get their message across.