Car companies + internet. Seems like it would be a natural marketing and sales tool, right?  Well, up until recently, OEMs were terrified of the intrawebz as buying a car online from a corporation is still nearly impossible to do.  In fact, finding the correct information for a vehicle and its options on a company’s website is still not very easy.

So how do corporations solve the issue of failed informational websites?  Well, they jump headfirst into crazy marketing schemes and go all web-two-point-oh on us!  From games, to wannabe Facebooks, to Legos, auto companies are doing anything they can to get their viral marketing campaigns moving along.

Take a look at a few of our faves, and add yours into our comments.

Example:

Dodge Quest

www.Dodge-Quest.com

A direct rip-off of classic 8-bit video gaming (in this case the Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior NES games) Dodge fabricated an online Flash game worthy of our time.  With the 80s and 8-bit gaming beck in style, Dodge manages to make a successfl attempt at capturing our attention for an entire afternoon. You play the role of a weird, toad-headed character trying to win the heart of his “fair maiden” by buying her a Dodge.  Yep, nothing says romantic like a Dodge.

Complete with a stats system, fights with townspeople, and a full town to walk around in and harass other characters, Dodge Quest puts any Grand Theft Auto game to shame.

More sites after the jump.

IM Saturn

www.IMSaturn.com

Saturn has always been known as the customer-friendly arm of GM, so it was natural that their online community website would be just as interesting and people-friendly. Saturn’s method of community-access/exposure includes allowing members to create mini-profiles where they post pics of their car, share stories, enter contests, and play online slot car games.

The site also features several Saturn behind-the-scenes sections dedicated to making the corp seem ever-so-slightly more friendly.

Mini Viral Campaigns

www.aveaword.com

Are your friends becoming more metrosexual as the days progress?  Mini thinks so, and is here to help.  Their viral site for the MINI Cooper S JCW GP Kit allows you to input some rough info about your friends, allowing them to be harassed by an online video questioning their manhood when they visit.  Fantastically simple, and a great way to annoy the crap out of your friends.

Mini’s Advertising Banner Campaign

Mini in the UK sponsored an online “rally” of sorts, focusing on banner ads that chain-linked to various websites. The sites were (mostly) created by Mini and are as varied as possible, with themes such as “Roundabouts of Britain”, “Ugly Footballers”, or “Street Mattress”. The game was simple, and yet effective… in doing something or another. We don’t know… our minds were blown when we realized “footballers” were actually soccer-players.