With fear of a double-dip recession, drastic measures are undertaken that have sent shock waves through the once steady world of auto advertising. . According to Automotive News, there’s a $ 600 million media spending turnaround on behalf of three major automotive brands, and it’s all about swapping ad agencies.
Auto advertising: When an industry is in crisis
Agency consultant David Beals recognizes that the ongoing shift in auto advertising has never occurred on such a large scale before, but the shift is indicative of just how bad profit margins are for big automakers. Take GM for example, who dumped the Chevrolet agency Publicis for Goody Silverstein and Partners and moved its $ 270 million Cadillac auto advertising platform from Publicis-backed Bartle, Bogle and Hegarty to Minnesota-based Fallon. Considering that Chevrolet and Cadillac are the keys to GM’s recovery, the auto advertising changes are very big ones.
Accelerate growth at all costs
Anything that can be done to increase sales has to be done first on the minds of auto executives. And changes are happening fast. Bartle, Bogle and Hegarty didn’t find out that they were fired until the story ran in Advertising Age. Greg Anderson, BBH’s CEO, said in a statement that his company was “extremely surprised,” to say the least. Doner, a Michigan-based agency, knows just how much change can hurt. Mazda zoom-zoom-zoomed its $ 200 million-plus business elsewhere just last week. Other shifts in auto advertising from earlier this year include Volkswagen (from MDC’s Crispin Porter and Bogusky to Interpublic’s Deutsch) and Mitsubishi (Cimarron Group’s Traffic to Omnicom’s 180 in Los Angeles), according to Automotive News.
Discover more details here:
Automotive News
autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100628/RETAIL03/100629855/1018
Bloomberg Businessweek
businessweek.com/autos/autobeat/archives/2010/06/_not_even_two_months.html
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