Stellantis marketing exec on Twitter and Threads strategies and its ‘free market’ agency approach

Stellantis — among the automakers that paused Twitter advertising in the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover — has still not returned to paid advertising on the platform — but it is keeping an open mind, according to a top North American marketing executive.

The decision to pause ads but keep an organic presence on Twitter “was an executive leadership decision and it was discussed and it was debated at the very highest levels of the company,” Marissa Hunter, senior vice president of marketing for Stellantis North America, said during a wide-ranging conversation on the latest edition of Ad Age’s Marketer’s Brief podcast. But “we appreciate that there are some fairly significant management changes that are happening there right now,” she added.

Ad Age is an affiliate of Automotive News.

The podcast was recorded before this week’s announcement that Twitter would rebrand as X, pursuing a strategy that new CEO Linda Yaccarino stated would involve “audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities."

Automakers have a reason to take a more cautious approach to X compared with other advertisers, given Musk also runs EV giant Tesla. General Motors also paused Twitter advertising in the wake of Musk’s acquisition of the company late last year, although CEO Mary Barra opened the door to returning during an interview last month on CNBC. 

Hunter said Stellantis is taking a “wait and watch” approach. While she said she has not noticed “an immediate difference” under Yaccarino, “I'm sure a lot of that is happening behind the scenes … I think we'll give her a little bit of time to get her sea legs—although with Linda, it doesn't take very long because she's pretty much pro of all pros.”

As it waits on Twitter (now X), Stellantis has begun experimenting on Meta’s Threads, the X competitor that debuted earlier this month.

“We've done a couple of pilot tests and trials specific to some of the Jeep brand activity,” Hunter said, adding “the engagement results that we've seen on a preliminary basis have been directionally positive.” One recent Thread from Jeep leaned into the “Barbie” marketing hype.

Stellantis is known to experiment with different agencies even as it keeps agencies of record for its individual brands. Hunter describes it as a “free market” approach that “gives opportunity to new creative agencies that may want to take a crack at” one of the automaker’s brands. (The company's AORs include Highdive for Jeep, TRG for Ram, Doner for Chrysler and GSD&M for Dodge, with Publicis handling social media, Huge leading digital, Migrante assigned to Hispanic advertising and TKT on Black audience marketing.)

Stellantis is known to reach out to dozens of shops for the Super Bowl, for instance, a process that Hunter said will soon begin for the 2024 Big Game.

She did not confirm an ad buy for the game, suggesting that as always, it will come down to whether the creative pitches it gets are worthy of the pricey investment. “We have a track record of when we show up in the Big Game, we tend to show up in a pretty big way,” she said.

This year, Stellantis took a more lighthearted tone in the game: a Ram ad called “Premature Electrification” spoofed pharma marketing to promote an electric truck, while Jeep remade the reggae classic “Electric Boogie.”

Hunter on the podcast also discussed the automaker’s agency strategy, which recently involved hiring Louisville, Kentucky-based TKT & Associates—a Black-owned shop— as the automaker’s first-ever agency of record dedicated to Black audience marketing efforts.

“We’ve had relationships with diverse-owned agencies in the past, but not to the exclusive nature of the relationship that we have now with TKT,” said Hunter, a 14-year veteran of Stellantis and its predecessor Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

“One of the commitments that we've made is to the empowerment of Black creators,” she added. “We know that more diversity in the creative process brings about more thoughtful and reflective and culturally relevant work.”