It's the 11th hour for sweeping financial-overhaul legislation in the U.S Congress, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hasn't given up the fight.

The Chamber on Monday launched the latest chapter of its on-going lobbying campaign, aiming to highlight the concerns its small-business members have with the legislation. But rather than flying small-business owners into town or taking out more full-page newspaper ads, this week the business lobby is breaking out the avatars.

An avatar is a virtual representation of a person. Getty Images

Starting last Thursday, the Chamber emailed its grassroots network asking members to create their own personalized avatars, or virtual versions of themselves. Once created, the avatar can participate in a "virtual march" on the Capitol.

The push comes as House and Senate negotiators begin what's likely to be the last week of a conference committee tasked with reconciling competing versions of the financial overhaul bill. The Chamber opposes a number of provisions in the current bill, but the avatar push appears focused largely on the scope of the consumer financial-protection bureau that the bill would create.

For instance, part of the message encouraging Chamber members to take part argues that the new watchdog "would be able to impose regulations on thousands of nonfinancial companies that aren't in the business of consumer finance and had nothing to do with the financial crisis." Consumer groups and Democratic supporters of that provision in the bill contend that it wouldn't capture truly nonfinancial businesses.

Already, more than 24,000 avatars have gathered on a Google Maps image of the National Mall. Each is labeled with the name and location of its creator, such as "Alicia" from Sparks, Texas. Lawmakers will be able organize the avatars by state so they can see how many of their own constituents turned out for the march.

"Conferences are always a member-to-member play, more than a lobbyist-to-member play," said David Hirschmann, the Chamber's senior vice president. "But what they're all thinking about is what does back home think about this?" The virtual march is the Chamber's way of reminding key lawmakers what its members think, he said.

Since last September, the Chamber has spent more than $3 million fighting against key aspects of the bill. Its members also have sent more than 250,000 letters to lawmakers.