MARKETING
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Retail
| Factories punish rogue exporters >> |
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| VW uses free service to improve sales, image >> |
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AutoTrader.com makes big pitch to bump up new-vehicle salesA new advertising campaign by AutoTrader.com emphasizes new-vehicle sales at the automotive Web site. AutoTrader is devoting a “significant portion” of its $100 million annual marketing budget to the campaign, said CEO Chip Perry. The campaign encompasses TV and radio commercials, Internet ads and event marketing. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 5 |
Top auto execs to talk marketing at seminarTop marketing executives at General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, Honda and Hyundai will discuss their companies' changing media choices at this year's Automotive News Marketing Seminar, May 28 in Los Angeles. 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 5 |
Ford gives dealers more co-op moneyFord Motor Co. is paying dealerships to boost local advertising. Beginning with vehicles purchased in April, the automaker's new Tier 3 cooperative advertising program gives Ford, Lincoln and Mercury dealerships an extra half of a percentage point of each vehicle's wholesale price. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 28 |
Ex-actor Rubin lands a starring role in ad worldGerry Rubin wanted to be an actor. He studied acting at Northwestern University in suburban Chicago but decided he couldn't cut it. After graduating, Rubin was hired by the Leo Burnett ad agency, then went on to become president of Needham Harper. Winning the Honda account in 1986 was a coup for Rubin and his partner, Larry Postaer. And it was the start of a new agency: Rubin Postaer and Associates. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 28 |
C. Europe rally gets automakers' support
Automakers used the first Central Europe Rally as a marketing opportunity. Earlier this year, the traditional Dakar off-road endurance race from France to Africa was canceled due to terrorist threats. The event was replaced with a route in Hungary and Romania. [SUB] April 28 06:01 CET
Ford dealers like regional test-drive ads
Even though it has barely begun, Ford Motor Co. dealers want a word-of-mouth regional ad campaign to continue beyond its original two-month schedule. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 28
Subaru faces challenge in Toyota JV sports car
Subaru will be facing marketing opportunities as well as possible challenges when it starts selling the new sports car being jointly developed with Toyota. [REG] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 25
GM offers free digital marketing package to dealers
General Motors is so determined to rev up its dealers' digital marketing that it is offering them a comprehensive package from the Cobalt Group -- for free. GM expects almost all of its dealers to sign up. The package is designed to drive more in-market shoppers -- those who intend to buy within 60 days -- to GM dealership Web sites and turn them into sales, says Mark Degnan, the automaker's director of local advertising and marketing. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 21
Ford plans $100M-plus F-150 launchFord Motor Co. will spend more than $100 million to market the revamped 2009 F-150 pickup. Ford marketing chief Jim Farley told Automotive News that the model-year launch budget is "in the same ballpark" as the spending allocated when the automaker introduced the current F-150 in 2003. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 21 |
Concert in the key of C-3POToyota wasn't tooting its own horn last week at the SAE World Congress in Detroit. It left that to one of its robots. Touting a project to develop robots that can replace people in some dangerous or boring jobs, Toyota showed off its trumpet-playing gizmo -- named, with typical Toyota whimsy, "Toyota Partner Robot." [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 21 |
Farley: Ford's marketing team is ready to rollFord Motor Co. marketing chief Jim Farley says he has assembled his team of marketers. In March, former Ford personnel chief Joe Laymon said Ford continued to look for outside marketing talent even after hiring Farley from Toyota last fall. This month, Farley brought in Matt VanDyke, 35, from Lexus agency Team One in Los Angeles to become director of marketing communications for the Ford brand. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 21 |
Keeping the Alfa legend aliveAs the saying goes, if you have a finicky Italian car to fix, it makes sense to take it to a Scotsman. OK, so it's not a saying. All I know is that my recently acquired -- and mortally wounded -- 1974 Alfa Romeo Spider was in the care of one Stewart Sandeman, the Scottish proprietor of Alfa Performance Connection Mark Rechtin is Los Angeles bureau chief for Automotive News. [SUB] 3:29 pm U.S. ET | April 17 |
Chrysler fields 'dream' adsChrysler LLC launches a corporate advertising campaign today that aims to win over buyers who have dropped the automaker from their shopping lists. The campaign's tag line: "If you can dream it, we can build it." [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 14 |
Lexus adds a personal touch to pamper owners, prospectsLexus is strengthening its grass-roots marketing to deepen its roots with existing customers. Lexus' latest gambit is with the Fairmont Hotels chain. The properties in San Francisco and Washington will have "hybrid-living suites" with furniture, bedding and towels made from organic, sustainable and renewable resources. The minibar is stocked with "biodynamic" wines and organic farmstead cheeses. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 14 |
After hopeful start, biofuels flop in FranceBioethanol has been a flop in France, where less than 18 months ago a government-supported initiative set ambitious targets for the spread of the fuel. [SUB] April 14 06:01 CET |
Cadillac's ad agency savors the sweet lifeIt took a while, but the head of Cadillac's advertising agency says its work for the brand has hit "the sweet spot." Lance Jensen, co-founder of Modernista, says the well-received campaign that his agency created last year for the Cadillac CTS sedan has set a tone for the luxury marque. He describes it as "young, sexy and energetic, with a bit of an attitude." Special Correspondent Laura Clark Geist writes a monthly column on trends in automotive advertising and marketing. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 14 |
Ford wants word-of-mouth campaign
Ford Motor Co. is trying to create a 750,000-strong army of advocates to get consumers to reconsider its vehicles. That's the number of employees, retirees, dealers and dealership employees that Ford is charging with spreading the word about the automaker's quality gains and new products. That person-to-person outreach is the backbone of Ford's multimillion-dollar "Drive One" campaign, which started this month. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 14
100,000 Flex sales a year? Farley: 'Absolutely'Ford Motor Co. is looking to sell 100,000 units annually of the new Ford Flex crossover. The 100,000 threshold "absolutely" is possible for the 2009 Flex, said Jim Farley, Ford group vice president of marketing and communications. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 14 |
Dodge launch goes digital
Dodge is launching the Journey crossover with the brand's largest digital marketing campaign. At a press event last week Dodge spokesman Mark Spencer said that 29 percent of the media budget for the launch of the 2009 Journey will go to digital venues. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 14
New Ford ads tout quality improvementsFord will trumpet quality improvements in an ad campaign designed to get people to reconsider its vehicles. Ford says a company-commissioned survey found that initial quality of its vehicles is now on par with Honda and Toyota. Quality is one virtue Ford touts in the "Drive One" campaign, launched last week. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 14 |
TV auto ads shift to online, mobile venuesU.S. consumers are getting used to watching TV shows on their personal computers and cell phones. Auto marketers say that's another reason they are boosting their digital advertising budgets, often at the expense of their spending with broadcast and cable networks. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 14 |
At seminar, marketing execs to discuss new ways to reach customers
Top marketing executives at General Motors, Toyota, Chrysler, Honda and Hyundai will discuss their companies' changing media choices at this year's Automotive News Marketing Seminar, May 28 in Los Angeles. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 14
Study: Ads focused on vehicle qualities won on Oscar nightTV commercials for cars and trucks during big shows such as the Oscars lead consumers to research the vehicles more deeply online, a study says. Edmunds.com examined Web site traffic on its pages featuring vehicles advertised during the Feb. 24 Academy Awards telecast on ABC. The biggest payoff in increased online attention was for new-vehicle launches, the study concludes. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 14 |
Post-Celine, Chrysler ad guru seeks right noteDon't call Peter Arnell's return to Chrysler -- the scene of his advertising agency's biggest blowup -- a quest for redemption. Arnell rejects suggestions that his new design role offers a second chance to make good at Chrysler. The automaker dropped his agency, the Arnell Group, after the failure of a 2003 campaign featuring singer Celine Dion. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 14 |
