SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Edmunds.com debuted a new television spot today to kick off its first ever cross-platform ad campaign: "Ask the Car People." The 30-second spot was shot at Edmunds.com's Santa Monica headquarters.

"As we host about 18 million visitors at Edmunds.com's online and mobile platforms every month, many people might be surprised to learn that this is our first television ad," said Michelle Denogean, Edmunds.com’s Vice President of Marketing. "Word of mouth has taken us a long way in driving our remarkable decade-plus exponential growth, and now it is time for us to proactively reach even more new and used car shoppers with the message that Edmunds.com's free tools make it simple for them to find and purchase the car that meets their every need."

Edmunds.com worked with New York-based ad agency Kaplan Thaler Group to produce the campaign. The TV spot will air in four markets today (Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence and Raleigh) and is being supported by a series of online display ads. The "Car People" may also make surprise appearances on Edmunds.com's Facebook, Twitter and Google+ pages, and in Edmunds.com's video library.

The launch of the campaigns comes a week after TrueCar and Yahoo! Autos announced that they’ve altered an exclusive deal the two companies signed last December. To read that story, click here.