en | fr | de | it | es | pt | ru
blog.niot.net
Ad firms could lose big in GM/Chrysler merger

GM and Chrysler spent a combined $4.75 billion on marketing last year which funded thousands of jobs, from the CEOs of ad agencies to the guys pasting up billboards on the Interstate. So how would a merger of the two companies affect the advertising industry? Advertising Age asked several players in the biz what they thought of the idea of Chrysler and GM hooking up and most few positive things to say. The consensus was that GM already has too many brands to promote, adding three more wouldn't benefit anyone. The execs said they would expect GM to at least sell off Chrysler, if not Dodge, too, which would trim GM's ad budget, but also cut the number of marketing firms needed. At first it would seem Chrysler's agency, Omnicom Group's BBDO, would be an instant loser. But auto consultant Gordon Wangers gives the firm some chance of being kept on. Wangers said GM might just see potential in BBDO's experience and creativity, and throw even more business its way. The magazine also speculates that GM's veteran VP of sales, Mark LaNeve, would have a better chance of keeping his job in a merger instead of Chrysler's VP-chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl Meyer. Don't think this concerns you? Think again. Consider where your local newspaper or favorite magazine gets most of its funding. Still not concerned? TV shows, televised sporting events, motorsports, and, uh, blogs, are all ad based, with automotive ads being a big source of income. Fewer brands means fewer ads.
posted : 10/27/2008 @4:15:16 PM
F1 head's daughter gets racy in new ad

Bernie Ecclestone has three daughters -- four if you count Formula 1 -- and the one you see above is Tamara, posing with a checkered flag. Why? To help PETA fight the fur trade, of course. Under the slogan "Going fur-free is the winning formula," Tamara has done a series of print ads in Europe that appear to say "If you really care about animals, not only will you not wear fur, you won't wear any clothes at all. And you'll be hot. Like Natasja Vermeer and Eva Mendes hot. Or Steve-O." Vive l'Europe.
posted : 10/15/2008 @7:41:41 PM
Hyundai buys up GM's abandoned Oscar ads

General Motors and Hollywood's little gold statue have been friends for 11 years, but with a reduction in its marketing and ad budget, the U.S. automaker has walked away from high profile events such as the Super Bowl, Emmys, and Oscars. Thankfully for ABC, the multimillion-dollar breach in the 2009 Oscars telecast created by GM's departure has been immediately filled by Hyundai. As of now, Hyundai has only signed on to take over an unknown quantity of the $1.7-million-plus ad slots – it isn't known whether the Korean automaker will completely replace GM's presence at the awards. Along with a new agency, and an increased marketing budget – and all those SEMA cars – Hyundai's ad buy is another measure of its confidence in the new Genesis and its push to move into premium territory.
posted : 10/15/2008 @7:10:20 PM
Saab Australia busted for misleading green claims, ordered to plant LOTS of trees

Marketers have been known to make claims that test our good sense, our gullibility and our patience. But in a field in which it's often the best story -- not the best product -- that wins, some of the more unsightly details can get left out when making a pitch. Nevertheless, there is still, as Pinocchio's nose would tell you, a line between a tall tale and what's commonly referred to as a lie. Saab Australia drove its entire model range over that line when it claimed in a campaign last year that "Every Saab is green, with carbon emissions neutral across the entire Saab range." The ads also said Saab would plant 17 native trees to offset the CO2 emissions for the lifespan of each car it sold. Turns out that 17 trees only offsets the carbon produced in the first year of a car's life. Saab left that part out when they lied added the small print. Australia's competition watchdog took Saab's parent company, GM Holden, to court, and in a verdict for truth and the environment, Saab's claims were declared, ahem, "misleading". GM has pledged to "retrain its marketing staff in relation to making green claims," and plant a forest of 12,500 trees to cover the lifetime emissions of all the cars sold during the campaign.
posted : 10/2/2008 @2:32:58 PM
Ford Fusion Raptors Edition gets benched

Ford sponsored the Toronto Raptors back in 2006, and one of the promotional ties in the deal was a special Ford Fusion Raptors Edition (here is the promo video). The car is replete with a magical selection of colors and images on the outside, and basketball-themed colors and textures inside. Check out that b-ball steering wheel, and those seats, and the TV in the trunk that would allow you to both ruin your eyes and watch games at a truly awful angle. If nothing else, we're impressed that it took two and a half years to show up on the used car sales floor. Less surprising is the fact that it's only done 5,900 kilometers in that time. It can be all yours for $25,000 Canadian...
posted : 9/24/2008 @10:25:32 PM
SEMA Preview: 600 hp, twin-turbo Fox Marketing/Artisan Lexus IS-F

The 2009 Lexus IS-F is slated to get some serious attention at SEMA, and Fox Marketing and Artisan are out to prove that show and go aren't mutually exclusive. The plan is to create an IS-F that has the power to match its presence, and to that end, Artisan developed a twin-turbo setup that huffs compressed oxygen into a 5.0-liter V8 equipped with JE pistons and Crower rods. With a Mishimoto radiator, an Artisan exhaust, a healthy amount of boost and a thorough tune, Artisan is estimating over 600 hp at the rear wheels. Aesthetically, the team sought to compliment the stock IS-F's styling, so they've fitted a bespoke body kit consisting of custom front and rear bumpers, and a set of side-skirts that cleanly integrate into the blistered rear fenders. iForged rollers fill the wheel wells, sized 20x9.5-inches in front and 20x11.5-inches in the rear, and wrapped in Toyo T1R tires (255/35R20 front and 305/30R20 rear). The Glasurit Sunset Orange hue is courtesy of BASF, and according to Brian Fox, they'll be blacking out the headlamps, grille and emblems to tie everything together. Artisan plans to have its IS-F exhaust on sale next month, and when we check out the Lexus booth this November, we'll be able to see Fox/Artisan's efforts in person, along with a handful of other tuned and tweaked IS-Fs.
posted : 9/16/2008 @6:44:45 AM
Audi bucks trend, beefs up ad budgetAutomakers have been fleeing main-stream media faster than most new reality shows get pulled from prime-time programming. There are many reasons for the move away from big dollar media, including decreased TV viewers and online ads soaking up some of the budget, but perhaps the biggest reason is that cash isn't spewing out of SUV tailpipes any more. Audi is one company that isn't high-tailing it out of the high rent district. The German automaker won't be cutting its 2008 ad budget, and instead, will be pumping more money into big-ticket campaigns. You'll see Audi touting the A4 at events like the Academy Awards and Sunday Night Football, along with its recent spots during the Olympics and last year's Super Bowl. Audi's goal is to bust misconceptions that it is a near-luxury brand by selling its cars as bigger, faster, and more efficient than the competition. Audi is in a huge hurry go expand to 1.5m global sales per year by 2015, and it has no intentions of letting something like a massive auto market downturn get in the way of its goals. To reach that goal, Audi will have to fare better in North America, and great products alone won't cut it if the word never gets out.
posted : 9/13/2008 @6:30:12 AM

Auto industry advertising slump hurting old mediaMainstream media has been quick to pile on Detroit automakers, which, along with some questionable Motown metal, has helped drive nationwide perception of the Big Three into the ground. Now that times are tough at traditional media outlets, well, that's Detroit's fault, too. Back in 2004, about $24 billion was doled out to television, print, and radio ads. Fast forward to 2008, and painfully slow sales coupled with cash-strapped automakers and dealerships have cut that number to about $15 billion. That's putting an Excursion-sized dent in the earnings of stalwart media companies like Viacom and Time Warner (Autoblog and Weblogs, Inc. are owned by Time Warner), as the media giants point directly towards Detroit and a soft auto market to explain their drop in revenue.

While times are tough on TV, print advertising is taking the brunt of the blow. Newspapers took a $131 million hit in the first quarter of 2008 as dealers have pulled back on full and half-page ads due to slow sales and limited cash flow. The proliferation of mainstream Internet advertising is also cutting into old media's profits, as automakers feel they're getting more bang for the buck with less expensive online ads. With the car market looking worse by the day and the unabated growth of Internet advertising, we don't expect this trend to reverse itself any time soon.

posted : 8/30/2008 @4:30:35 PM
Doing the save-money shuffle: Ford consolidates divisional marketing

Despite Ford's mostly successful efforts to yank its product line along by the earlobes, it still needs to find cost savings. To that end, the advertising arms of the Ford and Lincoln-Mercury divisions have been combined, bucking the traditional Balkanization in the marketing wing.

Ford traditionally maintained separate sales and marketing groups, though a single person did serve as brand overlord for all three. Now, the marketing and sales efforts will be by product type, rather than brand, so the Edge team will also shill the MKX, for example. To execute this change, a game of musical chairs has been going on, with Brett Wheatley moving from general manager for Lincoln-Mercury to the customer incentives group, Lincoln brand manager Tom Grill will be joining the global marketing group, while global media manager for Ford, Mark Kaline, has separated from the Blue Oval. This deck shuffling may wind up with a good marketing hand, or it could be a whole bunch of worthless cards.
posted : 8/8/2008 @8:54:17 PM

Tata Nano may be branded a Fiat in overseas markets

Fiat and Tata already have a joint venture to distribute commercial vehicles. If they can do the big stuff, why not the little stuff? Tata and Fiat are looking at an agreement to sell the Tata Nano outside of India in markets where Fiat has a strong presence.

If the deal goes through, and once the car is upgraded to meet Western standards, Tata can take advantage of the Fiat name, marketing, and dealer network. Fiat would probably have a big seller on its hands -- and a slice of every one -- since the car is still expected to maintain a healthy price advantage even after it gets beefed up.

The Tata, however, is not expected to come to the U.S. as a Fiat. Ratan Tata said, ""We have held talks about the Nano being marketed in markets where Fiat has already a strong presence." Frankly, America isn't one of those places yet. With Tata making such a big splash over here with Jaguar, they probably wouldn't need Fiat to help the brand. Still, the thought of a Fiat 500 and a Nano snuggling in the corner of a dealership would be too cute to miss.

posted : 8/7/2008 @7:05:36 PM
< back ( 1 2 3 ) next >
:: new posts
:: popular posts
copyright 2007 (C) - powered by ceastudio