Marketing

ANDREW THURLOW

Nissan lures feathered pickup customers with fish, no rebates

10:57 am U.S. ET | May 17, 2013
If Nissan wants to portray its made-in-the-U.S.A. Frontier compact pickup as more, well, American, the company's marketing team should take a gander at YouTube.... Read More »

 

At Fiat-Chrysler 'it's all about differentiating the brands'

May 17, 2013 06:01 CET
Olivier Francois, chief marketing officer for Fiat and Chrysler, has helped rehabilitate Chrysler Group's image since its 2009 bankruptcy. Chrysler has racked up 37 consecutive months of year-over-year U.S. sales increases, thanks in part to memorable commercials, such as rapper Eminem's coup during the 2011 Super Bowl.... Read More »

 

VINCE BOND JR.

Shaq: No grease needed to slide into my LaCrosse

4:21 pm U.S. ET | May 14, 2013
Can Shaquille O'Neal really fit into a Buick LaCrosse? The debate continues, but Buick has to love the humorous PR its giant pitchman generates.... Read More »

 

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE E-MAGAZINE

Nissan plans potentially polarizing changes to top-selling Qashqai

May 14, 2013 06:01 CET
Nissan promises an innovative new look for the next Qashqai – the automaker's top-selling model in Europe – when the replacement debuts early next year.... Read More »

 

Volvo jabs Germans, stresses sensible luxury

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13, 2013
Volvo's new brand awareness campaign pokes fun at German competitors, touting Volvos as less flashy and more sensible.... Read More »

 

Ford must switch gears, tout trucks, Mustang

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13, 2013
Ford-brand marketers face an interesting challenge. After spending millions of dollars over the last several years promoting a lineup of fuel-efficient small- and mid-sized cars and crossovers, two historic launches loom on Ford's near-term horizon: the next-generation F-series pickup and the 50th anniversary Mustang pony car.... Read More »

 

Hyundai sets new TV spots to reggae beat

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13, 2013
A remix of the Bob Marley song "Three Little Birds" will be the soundtrack for TV spots in a campaign touting the package of safety and maintenance services included with Hyundai's Blue Link telematics system.... Read More »

 

MARKETING EXECUTIVE Q&A: OLIVIER FRANCOIS

At Chrysler-Fiat 'it's all about differentiating the brands'

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13, 2013
Olivier Francois, chief marketing officer for Fiat and Chrysler, has helped rehabilitate Chrysler Group's image since its 2009 bankruptcy. Chrysler has racked up 37 consecutive months of year-over-year U.S. sales increases, thanks in part to memorable commercials, such as rapper Eminem's coup during the 2011 Super Bowl.... Read More »

 

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE E-MAGAZINE

Ford makes fresh start in Europe

May 13, 2013 06:01 CET
Ford will use this month's UEFA Champions League soccer final to launch a new pan-European advertising campaign that focuses on its affordable, user-friendly technologies. It is just one aspect of a multi-faceted marketing overhaul the automaker hopes will help to stem its sales and profitability slump in Europe.... Read More »

 

SURGICAL MARKETING STRIKES

Automakers grow adept at targeting ads to Internet surfers

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13, 2013
The digital age has spawned effective ways for auto marketers to swipe customers from competitors. By monitoring the online shopping habits of millions of consumers, marketers can place online ads in front of shoppers quickly and precisely.... Read More »

 

Nismo marketing pitch: A day at the racetrack

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13, 2013
Nissan Motor Co. thinks a spin around a racetrack will attract shoppers better than traditional advertising to its new Nismo performance models.... Read More »

 

MARKETING EXECUTIVE Q&A: ALEX LEIKIKH

Acura's new ad agency targets buyers from luxury rivals

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13, 2013
Alex Leikikh, the son of Russian immigrants to Minnesota, had key posts at agencies Leo Burnett and Fallon -- working at Fallon on the BMW account -- before being named president of Mullen's headquarters office in Boston. This year, his team made an emotion-filled pitch to win the Acura business.... Read More »

 

MARKETING EXECUTIVE Q&A: CHRIS PERRY

Chevy pitches more than heritage ahead of key launches

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13, 2013
This year, Chevrolet is rolling out 13 new or redesigned vehicles, including some of its most important nameplates, such as the Silverado full-sized pickup, Impala large sedan and the seventh-generation Corvette. The busy launch schedule comes at a time of flux for Chevrolet marketing.... Read More »

 

MARKETING EXECUTIVE Q&A: TOBY BARLOW

Marketer uses customers' voices to tell the Ford story

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13, 2013
Toby Barlow, chief creative officer of the Team Detroit ad agency, has the job of telling the Ford brand story. Barlow and Team Detroit have relied heavily on customer testimonials.... Read More »

 

Chevy aims new Vette at Porsche buyers

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13, 2013
General Motors and Chevrolet's ad agency, Commonwealth of Detroit, are plotting an ambitious marketing strategy for the 2014 Corvette Stingray, one of GM's biggest launches of the year.... Read More »

 

LARRY P. VELLEQUETTE

Lights, camera -- uh, boss, we have a little problem here . . .

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13, 2013
I love wordplay, so when photos arrived of the big blue Pacific crashing against a floundering Ram heavy-duty pickup during a beach photo shoot gone wrong, my mind just raced Larry P. Vellequette covers Chrysler Group for Automotive News.... Read More »

 

FINAL ASSEMBLY

Really, Don Draper? You want the Vega account?

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13, 2013
It looks like the popular AMC series "Mad Men," about a fictional New York advertising agency in the late 1960s, is trading in its Jaguar business for a Chevrolet Vega.... Read More »

 

Tesla Model S wins high praise from Consumer Reports

6:00 am U.S. ET | May 9, 2013
The all-electric Tesla Model S sports car received the highest score in Consumer Reports' ratings -- a 99 out of 100 -- along with widespread plaudits from the magazine's automotive testing staff.... Read More »

 

Jaguar positions F-Type roadster with historic 'baddest boy' bloodline

2:51 pm U.S. ET | May 9, 2013
Jaguar is launching its first two-seat roadster since Steve McQueen tooled around Hollywood in his E-Type in the 1960s. And the luxury carmaker is looking to tap into that old-school auto attitude with a $20 million campaign that plays up the 2014 F-Type's historic bloodline to Jaguar roadsters of the past.... Read More »

 

Ford to sponsor Detroit's annual fireworks display

5:30 pm U.S. ET | May 8, 2013
Ford has signed a multi-million-dollar deal to become the title sponsor of Detroit’s annual fireworks display for the next three years.... Read More »

 

CHARLES CHILD

Are car salespeople, journalists all that different?

4:49 pm U.S. ET | May 8, 2013
A strange thing happened to me here at the Digital Dealer Conference. I've concluded I could be a car salesman.... Read More »

 

LARRY P. VELLEQUETTE

Ram photo shoot goes horribly, horribly wrong

12:00 pm U.S. ET | May 7, 2013
I love puns, so when photos arrived of the big blue Pacific crashing against a floundering Ram heavy-duty pickup during a beach-photo-shoot-gone-wrong, my mind just raced.... Read More »

 

NICK BUNKLEY

Why Chevy execs are suddenly watching 'Mad Men'

2:19 pm U.S. ET | May 7, 2013
One of Joel Ewanick's big moves in his brief reign as chief marketing officer of General Motors was to combine two rival ad agencies and give them the Chevrolet account, ousting Campbell Ewald after decades of experience. It turns out that Don Draper had that exact same idea in 1968.... Read More »

 

Study: Think python, not buying funnel

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 6, 2013
Car shoppers 25 to 39 years old are trashing the traditional path to a vehicle purchase, according to a new study by Incisent Labs. The old funnel theory of buying, in which a shopper continuously narrows his vehicle choices before purchase, doesn't apply to Gen X and Gen Y vehicle buyers.... Read More »

 

Chevy courts 'girls' on social media

12:01 am U.S. ET | May 6, 2013
Some Chevy local marketing associations are finding prospective customers with Facebook pages tailored to women in specific metro areas, melding marketing messages with local goings-on.... Read More »