Last week, three major automotive brands that have a collective $600 million in measured media spending swapped ad agencies.
Before the recent economic downturn, the automotive advertising business was known to be very stable. Its accounts used to have long learning curves, placing a premium on experience and scale that made it difficult to make a quick shift. Veteran agency-search consultant David Beals describes this to be “unprecedented,” which he thinks is what happens during a crisis. Weeks ago, Joel Ewanick, General Motors Co.’s new head of US marketing, had dumped Chevrolet ad agency Publicis for Omnicom’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners.
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