Friday, September 24, 2010

8000: Chevy Rides Familiar Race Road.


Check out the Adweek story below. A brief MultiCultClassics perspective immediately follows…

Chevy Taps Spike DDB
N.Y. shop picks up African-American ad chores


—David Gianatasio

General Motors’ Chevrolet has made another move, tapping Spike DDB in New York to handle its African-American ad chores following a review, the client has confirmed.

Sanders/Wingo in El Paso, Texas, had previously handled that assignment.

“We’ve seen outstanding work from Spike DDB for their current clients and the creative approach they offer Chevrolet will be a great fit for the brand,” said Chris Perry, vp, U.S. marketing at Chevy.

The client’s yearly African-American ad spending was not disclosed. Past client spending in that sector has been $30-40 million. All told, Chevy spends about $650 million annually on ads, per Nielsen.

The client consolidated general-market creative chores at Omnicom’s Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in May and tapped sibling shop LatinWorks for Hispanic market duties last month. Omnicom also has an ownership stake in Spike DDB.

On the one hand, Sanders/Wingo hardly produced breakthrough work for Chevy, essentially continuing the celebrity-driven angle that predecessor Carol H. Williams started. But Spike DDB clearly benefited more from the DDB part of its name than the Spike part. After all, the agency’s website features a logo, street address, phone number and link that reads: Click To Contact Us For A Copy Of The Current Reel. Guess the Chevy executive who gushed, “We’ve seen outstanding work from Spike DDB for their current clients and the creative approach they offer Chevrolet will be a great fit for the brand,” clicked on the link. In the end, it’s another example of Omnicom’s ability to package minorities for car companies—and ultimately maintain industry segregation.

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