16687: General Motors Rides Into General Market With New White Advertising Agencies.

 

MediaPost reported General Motors is driving with new White advertising agencies, including Anomaly, Mother, Preacher, and 72andSunny. The content did not feature any mention of non-White advertising agencies in the revised roster—or color commentary from Byron Allen.

 

General Motors Chooses New Agency Partners

 

By Tanya Gazdik

 

General Motors is switching up its agency roster in what it says is a quest to develop creative that prompts the automaker to rise to the top of vehicle purchase consideration lists.

 

“GM is building a modern global marketing model to ensure customers consider GM vehicles first, today and in the future,” says Molly Peck, global chief transformation officer at General Motors.

 

The model includes a mix of current and new agencies.

 

This includes a new relationship with agencies “designed to deliver fresh, breakthrough creative” including Anomaly, Mother, Preacher and 72andSunny, the automaker said in a statement to Marketing Daily.

 

They will be supported by MediaMonks “which will bring a modern approach to real-time, efficient content development.”

 

These agencies will be joined by Omnicom Precision Marketing Group, which will serve as GM’s lead agency for CRM, and Dentsu, which will remain the automaker’s lead media agency.

 

Chevrolet’s incumbent is Interpublic’s Commonwealth/McCann, while Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett has handled creative for Buick, GMC and Cadillac. Both holding companies remain on the automaker’s agency roster.

 

Leo Burnett will continue to support pieces of the GM business (customer care and after sales and some global work), as will Commonwealth (continuing at a reduced scope for 2024) and McCann (GM brand and corporate), according to a GM spokesperson.

 

Anomaly will have lead duties on Chevy, Mother will lead Buick, 72andSunny has Cadillac and Preacher gets GMC.

 

While the agencies have some brand duties, GM is moving away from an AOR structure.

 

“The agencies above will support those specific areas of the business while Media.Monks will work across agencies and brands to support day-to-day operations and helping brands connect with customers faster and more efficiently with their messaging/creative,” according to the automaker.

 

Mother called the review “one of the hottest pitches of the year.”

 

“From the start of the pitch process, we shared a similar energy, ambition and collaborative spirit with the Buick team,” the agency said in a statement. “Together, we hope to create a fresh and vibrant platform, for a fast growing brand that operates by a different marketing playbook and exudes a deserved confidence in their vehicles. It feels like an assignment that was made for Mother.”

 

These changes conclude a review that began in January under Global Senior VP and Chief Marketing Officer Norm de Greve. GM worked with SnapPoint on the review process, a GM spokesperson confirmed.

 

Last month, GM selected Stream Companies as an approved digital advertising and SEO partner in GM’s Dealer Digital Solution Program, servicing more than 4,000 Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac dealerships.

 

The automaker is extending the opportunity for all eligible dealerships to leverage matching funds for covering the expenses of Stream Digital Advertising and SEO services. The program offers dealers access to a collection of digital products and services aimed at driving sales and service business.

 

The program allows retailers to better identify website visitors, market to past clients and future shoppers and measure advertising in new ways.

12382: LOL—Lying LaNeve Leaves.

Advertising Age reported Team Detroit COO Mark LaNeve is returning to the client side as the new head of U.S. sales, marketing and service at Ford. So much for being a team player. Then again, a bailout is to be expected when adding a fucking liar to the fold. Pity the Team Detroit staffers who must now bow to LaNeve as the client. Hell, someone should have put a clause in the man’s contract to prevent such a move, especially given that LaNeve landed the Team Detroit role by directly applying to his Ford friends. Advertising executives, car salespeople and insurance salespeople are consistently listed among the least honest and ethical professions, which totally explains why LaNeve—whose career includes stints with Volvo, General Motors, Allstate, Team Detroit and Ford—is a world-class scoundrel.

LaNeve Lands at Ford as Head of U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service

Team Detroit’s COO Jumps to the Client

By Nick Bunkley

Mark LaNeve, a former top sales executive at General Motors, will take over as Ford Motor Co.’s new head of U.S. sales, marketing and service as of Feb. 1.

Mr. LaNeve left GM in the months after its 2009 bankruptcy and spent nearly three years as a top executive with the insurance giant Allstate Corp. before joining Ford’s advertising agency, Global Team Ford, in August 2012 as chief operating officer. At Allstate, he helped create the well-known “Mayhem” advertising campaign.

Mr. LaNeve, 55, replaces John Felice, who was the company’s U.S. sales chief for only 15 months. Ford said Mr. Felice, 53, “has elected to retire” after a 30-year career at the automaker.

His appointment comes a week after Stephen Odell started as Ford’s global sales, service and marketing chief, swapping jobs with Jim Farley, who now runs Ford of Europe.

“With nearly three decades of proven experience to draw upon,” Mr. Odell said in a statement, “Mark brings the right skills to continue building the Ford brand while creating a stronger retail experience for our customers, making it even easier for them to interact with their dealer and with Ford—and helping us profitably grow.”

Mr. Felice’s departure follows a year in which Ford’s U.S. market share dropped a full point to 14.9%, the lowest level since 2008. Ford sales fell 0.6% in 2014—a drop it blamed largely on the changeover to the newest version of its F-150 pickup—vs. a 7% gain for the rest of the industry.

Ford said Mr. LaNeve will oversee all marketing, sales, service and dealer relations in the U.S., focusing on “innovative new digital communications and transforming the retail experience for customers.”

Mr. LaNeve will report jointly to Mr. Odell and Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of the Americas.

Earlier in his career, Mr. LaNeve was CEO of Volvo Cars of North America from 1999 to 2001, when Ford owned it. He was chief marketing officer there from 1997 to 1999.

GM’s sales and market share declined significantly during Mr. LaNeve’s five-year tenure as its North American sales and marketing chief, though that slide began long before his arrival. He worked closely with sales analyst Paul Ballew, whom Ford hired in December as its chief data and analytics officer.

Mr. Felice joined Ford in April 1984. Among his previous roles at the company were head of Ford and Lincoln sales, head of Ford and Lincoln marketing, and president of Ford Thailand. He was general sales manager of Ford and Lincoln prior to becoming U.S. sales chief.

“John has had a long and successful career as a key leader serving us around the world for more than 30 years,” Hinrichs said in a statement.

“Among his many contributions, John led the Ford brand revitalization in the U.S., resulting in an unprecedented improvement in customer favorability, and was a strong advocate for our dealers, ensuring their participation in our business planning process and further strengthening our relationship with them. We thank John for his many years of service and wish him all the best going forward.”

—Nick Bunkley is a reporter for Automotive News

11112: Pulling Offensive Ads A Trend…?

Bloomberg News and Advertising Age believe there is a recent trend involving marketers pulling ads that consumers deem offensive. The truth is, the trend is a long-running pattern rooted in ignorance, insensitivity and cultural cluelessness from advertisers and advertising agencies. It would be easy to place the blame squarely on agencies, where the lack of diversity leads to a surfeit of stupidity. But the client side of the equation features an equal amount of dummies making even dumber decisions when approving concepts. Is it a coincidence that the story below spotlighted Pepsi and General Motors? PepsiCo pushes exclusivity with its ties to Omnicom, while GM is just plain racist. The real trend has been going on for over 60 years.

Pattern Forming: Pepsi, GM Latest Marketers to Yank Ads Deemed Offensive By Consumers

Who is To Blame for the Lack of Oversight?

Marketers are yanking ads nearly as fast as they are making them.

PepsiCo on Wednesday was criticized for an online spot for Mountain Dew that some consumers charged was racist and misogynistic. The 60-second ad—which the beverage maker has since removed from the web and apologized for—was made by the rapper known as Tyler the Creator, depicted a white female asked by a police officer to pick out a perpetrator from a lineup of black men and a goat.

Meanwhile General Motors became the latest carmaker caught in an ad flap. The company, seeking to boost China sales 75% by 2015, apologized for a Chevrolet ad that included a song referring to “the land of Fu Manchu” where all of the girls sing “ching, ching, chop-suey,” which one Chinese newspaper called racist.

“Our intent was not to offend anyone and we’re deeply sorry if anyone was offended,” Ryndee Carney, a Detroit-based GM spokeswoman, said in a telephone interview. “We’re reviewing our advertising approval processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Yet, it seems like this very thing is happening quite a lot these days. Big marketers are getting caught up in ad scandals and it there seems to be little accountability or oversight when the spots get pulled.

The English-language ad for the Chevrolet Trax sport-utility vehicle featured a 1920s motif and included music from Austrian performer and disc jockey Parov Stelar, she said. The South China Morning Post earlier reported on the ad, using the word “racist” in a headline.

GM wants to expand sales in China and plans to spend $11 billion through 2016 on new plants and products in the country. GM is targeting 5 million deliveries in China by 2015. Sales of GM and its Chinese joint ventures increased 11 percent to a record 2.84 million last year. The company already sells more vehicles in China than its home market.

The latest Chevy ad never appeared in China, Ms. Carney said. It began running in Canada on March 4 and was also available online through Chevrolet Europe websites, she said. GM pulled the ad and replaced it with a revised version that doesn’t include the lyrics and began airing in Canada on April 23, she said. The online version in Europe is being pulled down, she said. GM ceased the ads after receiving a complaint, she said.

This episode is one of several marketing blunders prompting public apologies by automakers this year that calls into question where the blame should lie given offensive ads are routinely making their way out into the world. After all, it amounts to a massive amount of time and money wasted—not to mention bad publicity. And it’s clear that what happens in one country, thanks to social media, no longer stays in one country. Negative press spreads like wildfire across time zones and languages.

Ford Motor Co. in March apologized for ads in India, including a version depicting former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with three tied-up and gagged young women. The ads weren’t requested by Ford or intended for paid publication, WPP’s JWT India unit said in March. The unit fired two employees.

Hyundai Motor Co., based in Seoul, and a dealer for GM’s Buick brand apologized for posting on Chinese social media while alluding to an outcry over the murder of a 2-month-old baby. Hyundai also apologized for a promotional video posted on Google Inc.’s YouTube depicting a man trying to kill himself in his vehicle.

—Bloomberg News with contributions from Advertising Age

11092: Lying LaNeve Lands Luxury Gig.

Advertising Age reported Team Detroit executive Mark LaNeve has been tapped for a second role as president of WPP sister agency Hudson Rouge. “Mark brings a tremendous amount of equity and understanding of the luxury space,” said a Ford spokesman. “When you look at Mark’s credentials, having redone Cadillac and Volvo, it makes a lot of sense.” Um, the lying bastard helped drive General Motors into bankruptcy. Makes all the sense in the world—the world of Mad Men and used car salesmen.

Mark LaNeve Called Upon to Help Stem Lincoln Sales Slide

Team Detroit Exec Named President of Hudson Rouge, Luxury Auto Brand’s Agency

By Rupal Parekh, Bradford Wernle

Team Detroit exec Mark LaNeve has been called upon to take over as president of the Lincoln brand’s ad agency, Hudson Rouge, according Automotive News. The move comes as the luxury brand is seeing a slide in sales.

The 54-year old Mr. LaNeve replaces former auto consultant Cameron McNaughton, who was named president when New York-based Hudson Rouge launched in December 2011. In a memo to dealers, Matt VanDyke, global director for the Lincoln brand, said Mr. McNaughton will be leaving the agency in May to “pursue other opportunities.”

Mr. LaNeve will be doing his new job from Detroit—visiting Hudson Rouge regularly—and will keep his other title as chief operating officer of Team Detroit, the Ford brand’s advertising agency. Both Team Detroit and Hudson Rouge are owned by WPP.

Prior to landing at WPP last year, Mr. LaNeve was a marketer at Allstate and General Motors. He’ll need to use his experience to help right the ship, as he is assuming control of the agency as the luxury Lincoln brand is going through a difficult rebirth. The 2013 MKZ sedan was heralded as the first car in that rebirth, but its launch has been hobbled by production delays and quality glitches. The brand’s U.S. sales have slipped seven consecutive months in an overall light-vehicle market that continues to expand.

The model for Hudson Rouge, a dedicated agency set up to serve the needs of just a single client, mimics the way that Team Detroit was formed. However, Team Detroit has now evolved to handle some clients outside of the auto sector.

“Mark brings a tremendous amount of equity and understanding of the luxury space,” a Ford spokesman said. “When you look at Mark’s credentials, having redone Cadillac and Volvo, it makes a lot of sense.”

Earlier this year, Lincoln launched a big advertising push for the MKZ that included two 30-second spots on the Super Bowl. That included one ad featuring late night host Jimmy Fallon and another, called “Phoenix,” which took bits and pieces from a long-running 60-second ad, with the addition of an MKZ bursting from an old Lincoln Town Car.

While the spots were intended to help elevate consideration of Lincoln cars, at the time, dealers did not have any cars to sell. Now that more cars are flowing into dealerships, Lincoln is ramping up its advertising again this month. There are now around 4,000 MKZs at dealerships, though there are some geographical areas with more cars than others.

Mr. LaNeve, who is widely regarded as a “dealer guy,” started his marketing career at GM and was credited with reviving the Cadillac brand. After rising to the post of brand manager for the Pontiac Bonneville in 1995, LaNeve left GM in 1997 to become VP-marketing and later CEO of Volvo Cars of North America, then owned by Ford.

In 2001 he returned to GM as general manager of Cadillac. In 2004, he became GM’s North America VP-of sales, service and marketing. A few months after GM declared bankruptcy in 2009, he left to become chief marketing officer for Allstate Corp. in Northbrook, Ill. There he oversaw creation of the insurance company’s “Mayhem” advertising campaign.

10893: Mentioning Mark LaNeve.

AgencySpy reported Team Detroit cut staffers last week. The comments included, “Someone has to pay for [Mark LaNeve’s] salary.” Hey, let’s not forget his 2013 Ford Explorer too. It’s like old times for the liar whose last car gig involved helping drive General Motors into bankruptcy.

10852: More Lies From General Motors.

Advertising Age reported on the inevitable downfall of Commonwealth, as General Motors shifted its Chevy Silverado advertising duties from Goodby Silverstein & Partners to Leo Burnett. It looks like another example of Corporate Cultural Collusion between clients and agencies, although Omnicom wasn’t able to keep the business within the network. When former GM Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick was replaced by Alan Batey in August, the new CMO insisted there would be no changes regarding Commonwealth or other agencies. Batey is clearly a graduate of the Mark LaNeve School of Fucking Liars. But that’s to be expected from glorified car salesmen.

GM Moves Chevy Silverado Ad Duties to Publicis’ Leo Burnett

First Big Ad Move Since Ewanick Departure Shifts Big Brand Out of Commonwealth Fold

By Rupal Parekh, Mike Colias

General Motors Co. is taking lead advertising duties for the Chevy Silverado, currently handled by Commonwealth—the new Detroit-based structure composed of teams from Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group of Cos.—and moving those responsibilities to Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett in Chicago. The shift is expected to take effect as of January.

As a result, all creative advertising duties for trucks is now aligned under Leo Burnett, which has long handled ad duties for the GMC and Buick brands. The move could allow GM to more effectively market trucks as a category.

At the same time, the change under Mr. Batey, who was formerly Chevy’s VP-sales and service, begs the question of whether cracks are beginning to show in a structure that Omnicom and Interpublic created for GM back in March. More specifically, that GM is unhappy with a portion of the work on Chevy from Goodby Silverstein & Partners, which had been brought in by previous marketing chief Joel Ewanick.

When he took the reins from Mr. Ewanick back in August, Mr. Batey insisted that there’d be no impact on Commonwealth or any other agency relationships.

GM Director-Product and Brand Communications Pat Morrissey said the shift was being made to alleviate some of the workload for Commonwealth, which will launch about 24 new or significantly enhanced vehicles next year. “Chevrolet will launch more than 20 products globally in 2013. That is an incredible amount of work for any advertising agency, especially a newly formed entity that is responsible for global campaigns in 140 markets. Therefore, Chevrolet will leverage General Motors’ existing agency network to support the 2014 Silverado launch next year,” Mr. Morrisey said.

He added that GM wanted to “leverage General Motors’ existing agency network” by having Leo Burnett do the creative on both pickups. “We believe having Leo Burnett work on both Silverado and Sierra will provide great synergies and result in creative campaigns that clearly differentiate the brands and engage truck customers.” He stressed that Commonwealth remains Chevy’s global creative agency of record and will “continue to aggressively work on global campaigns.”

For its part, Burnett seemed to consider the shift a lot more momentous. “Leo Burnett is thrilled to expand its relationship with General Motors, take on responsibility for the very important Chevrolet Silverado brand and build our highly awarded and proven Detroit office,” the company said in a statement. “Although our relationship with GM dates all the way back to 1967, this day will certainly go down in the history of this very important partnership.” Representatives from McCann and GSP either referred calls for comment to GM or were unable to comment at press time. It is unclear to what degree the loss of the Silverado business might have on staffing levels of the shop, but according to industry executives, GSP has picked up some new accounts that might allow the absorption of some positions at Commonwealth.

The move to a new agency to handle the Silverado nameplate comes a week after GM unveiled the next-generation pickup, along with the Sierra, at a press event in Detroit. GM is seeking to wrest back market share its lost to Ford and Ram in recent years with a vastly improved interior and more-powerful and fuel-efficient engines, coupled with more muscular but traditional exterior styling.

Measured-media spending was not available for Silverado, but GM spent more than $1 billion in total marketing spending in 2011, according to Ad Age DataCenter.

The pickups launch will be GM’s biggest since it emerged from bankruptcy in July 2009. The Silverado and Sierra are the company’s most-lucrative vehicle lines—bringing in around $12,000 in profit per unit, analysts estimate—and together are GM’s highest-volume U.S. products.

Analysts estimate GM has invested $3 billion to $4 billion to develop the new pickups and engines, and to retool assembly and powertrain plants. Citi expects the new Silverado and Sierra to boost GM’s 2013 and 2014 operating earnings by $1 billion.

GM execs hope the second-quarter launch of the trucks, delayed by the company’s 2009 bankruptcy, will help reverse a steady slide in its share of the full-sized pickup market. It has declined to 35.7% this year from 42.2% in 2002, its lowest level during that decade, according to the Automotive News Data Center.

Before the launches, GM will be scrambling to clear dealers’ lots of swollen pickup inventory that has forced the automaker to offer big discounts on 2013 Silverados and Sierras (some dealers are offering discounts of as much as $10,000 off).

On Dec. 1, GM had a 139-day supply of the full-sized pickups, its highest level of the year. GM is hurrying to meet its year-end target of 220,000 pickups, or an 85-day supply, after assuring analysts for months that it would bring its stocks under control. High inventories can dent GM’s profits by forcing the automaker to spend money on incentives or to cut production.

Through November, industrywide sales of full-sized pickups rose 10%, trailing the 14% sales growth for all light vehicles. Silverado sales were flat while Sierra sales rose 4%.

The major markets for the Silverado are the U.S. and the Middle East. One innovation that Chevy has introduced as part of its move to offer more clean, efficient vehicles is all-new bi-fuel Silverado 2500HD that seamlessly switches between gasoline and compressed natural gas.

~~

Mike Colias is a reporter for Automotive News.

10611: A Few ADCOLOR® Ads For 2012.

Would love to see clear evidence to counter the perception that Deutsch deserves a “D” grade for its diversity.

The agency committed to no longer using the term diversity and inclusion by 2014 prominently displays the words in its congratulatory ad.

McCann celebrates 100 years of “Truth Well Told”—and diversity well ignored.

Team Detroit declares, “Work is more fun when you include everyone.” Yet the joint hired the man who replaced minority advertising agencies with White agencies when leading General Motors’ marketing.

Foot Locker salutes diversity while selling Nikes. Nice.

10471: General Motors Steers Clear Of Politics…?

The Week published a perspective on General Motors’ attempts to distance itself from the presidential campaigns. Apparently, GM doesn’t want to take sides in the political fray and/or look beholden to any party or politician. Funny, the automaker didn’t hesitate to encourage employees and dealers to beg Congressional representatives for a bailout in 2008. Somebody should ask former General Motors Liar/new Team Detroit CEO Mark LaNeve if he’s better off today than four years ago.

Why is GM barring Obama and Romney from its plants?

The auto giant is doing all it can to remain above the political fray, but analysts say the company’s mega-bailout isn’t going to be forgotten anytime soon

“Osama bin Laden is dead, and General Motors is alive.” That’s the message Vice President Joe Biden is hammering home as the campaign barrels toward November — and there’s no easier way to make politics-averse “GM executives cringe,” say Nathan Bomey and Todd Spangler at The Detroit Free Press. Of course, the auto giant probably wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t received billions of dollars from the government in 2009, making GM a hot topic on the campaign trail. Indeed, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s running mate, caused a huge controversy when he suggested that President Obama was to blame for the closure of a GM plant in his hometown of Janesville, Wis. GM has responded to all this political debate in a unilateral way: By barring all candidates — including Obama and Romney — from visiting any of its plants. Here, a guide to GM’s allergic reaction to the November elections:

Why is GM so skittish about the election?

GM is “loath to appear siding with one party or another,” since it relies on all “Americans to buy its products,” says Fox News. And with the government still holding a 32 percent stake in the company, GM doesn’t want to be known as “Government Motors,” as some conservatives have dubbed it. “It’s an understatement to say we can’t wait for November to get here,” Bob Ferguson, GM’s vice president for global public policy, tells Bomey and Spangler.

Is its no-candidate policy unique?

No. Chrysler also announced that it would no longer allow candidates at its plants. However, Chrysler has repaid the aid it received from the government, and has played a smaller role in the debate over the auto bailout. Ford, which survived the recession without a bailout, has long barred candidates from its properties. GM has also taken the further step of telling Obama and Romney that they can’t feature footage of GM plants in their advertisements.

Are Obama and Romney going to back off?

No. The auto bailout is expected to be brought up constantly at the Democratic National Convention in early September, since the White House believes it’s a popular policy among swing voters, particularly in the battleground state of Ohio. Romney, meanwhile, is expected to continue attacking Obama for “crony capitalism” and wasting taxpayer dollars. (It bears remembering that the auto bailout began in 2008, under President Bush, and was broadened when Obama got into office.)

Will GM’s strategy work?

Probably not. GM’s strategy of duck-and-cover is pretty pointless — “there really isn’t any place to hide,” says Ted Reed at The Street. The company is going to be “dragged into a dysfunctional political system” whether it likes it or not, since “banning candidates from GM plants isn’t going to make the auto bailout any less of a contentious issue.”

Sources: CNN, The Detroit Free Press, Fox News, The Huffington Post, The Street

10468: LaNeve LaBor Day Weekend Laughs.

MultiCultClassics isn’t the only one thinking new Team Detroit CEO Mark LaNeve is a slimy idiot.

In 2008, Ray Wert at Jalopnik had fun with LaNeve’s email to GM dealers asking them to call their representatives in Congress and beg for bailout support.

Additionally, Robert Farago at The Truth About Cars likened LaNeve to Curly Howard of The Three Stooges.

In 2009, Farago examined letters from LaNeve to GM dealers. By October, Farago was declaring, “Mark LaNeve is Insane.”

Meanwhile, blogger Chris Preston ripped LaNeve after receiving junk mail from the former GM executive:

This guy sent me a “letter” this week. His name is Mark LaNeve. He’s the North American Vice President of Sales, Services and Marketing for General Motors. Please note the cufflinks.

The letter I received was all happy talk about how GM is working so hard to serve my needs and how committed they are to being my car company of choice in the future or something. I tossed the letter out after the third paragraph, which was calling my attention to the Aveo, the new model that GM is introducing “in the compact car segment for 2009.”

The “compact car segment"?” Is this the way you talk to your friends? (Ol’ Mark probably does, when he and his buddies tee off while laughing about customer demographics…) Mark sees me as a profit source because I’m someone who’s already bought. It’s his responsibility to get me to buy again. However, he made the mistake of assuming that I give a damn about his “brand” and that I feel that he and I have needs that [complement] each other. He knew exactly what kind of car I owned, and still pitched me on a compact? Clueless. He didn’t even use the information he already had about me as a customer, how could he care about me as a person? What he should have done was connect with me, make himself available to me personally and explain how my concerns and his are similar. Wasted paper and postage, Mark. You’re just a dinosaur, man. Your day is in the past. Sorry pal. Nice tie.

10465: More Mark LaNeve LaBullshit.

Advertising Age reported fresh details on former General Motors Liar/new Team Detroit CEO Mark LaNeve. According to the article, within an hour of signing his contract, LaNeve bought a white 2013 Ford Explorer. Not sure if there is symbolism behind the color. LaNeve probably views himself as a white knight; however, he’s just a typical corporate White man. The purchase undoubtedly lifted the morale of his agency’s staff. There’s nothing like seeing the new boss shower himself with expensive gifts.

The piece also revealed that LaNeve landed his position at Team Detroit after first emailing his resume directly to Ford. The executives at Ford didn’t have any openings for LaNeve, but they told Team Detroit CEO Satish Korde to call the jobseeker. The buddy system is alive and well in the auto and advertising industries.

The funniest line in the article: Ford is banking on Mr. LaNeve’s luxury car experience. Um, the last car company to employ LaNeve went bankrupt.

It should be interesting to see how LaNeve partners with Ford’s minority advertising agencies. After all, the man fired GM’s minority shops—handing the work over to White agencies—despite publicly fibbing that such a move would never happen. Hey, he could duplicate the scheme at Team Detroit under the guise of creating cross-cultural capabilities.

Throughout the interview, LaNeve sounds more like a client than an adman. Honestly, is the moron really qualified for the role? The guy has spent his entire career telling agencies what to do. What happens when Ford brand managers instruct him to kiss their asses? Can’t help but think that LaNeve joining Team Detroit will lead to a total car wreck.

LaNeve’s First Task for Ford: Revitalize Lincoln

Agency, Marketer Banking on His Luxury Experience

By Jamie LaReau

Mark LaNeve’s first priorities with Ford Motor Co.’s ad agency are to build its global dealer advertising groups and help revitalize the Lincoln luxury brand.

The former General Motors marketing VP accepted the job of chief operation officers at WPP Global Team Ford on July 31. An hour after signing his contract, Mr. LaNeve said, he bought a white 2013 Ford Explorer with a black interior.

On Aug. 20, his third day on the job, Mr. LaNeve, 53, spoke to Automotive News about moving to the agency side of the business.

His duties include running the daily operations of WPP Global Team Ford, Ford’s worldwide ad agency. That means working with Team Detroit plus Ford’s agencies in London, Brazil and Shanghai, and the Lincoln agency in New York. Mr. LaNeve will meet with Ford’s dealer marketing groups and eventually help build dealer advertising groups in Asia.

“Asia’s going to be a huge opportunity as our business grows, not just on the brand side and launch but on the dealer side,” he said.

Mr. LaNeve started his career at GM, then took a detour to Volvo Cars of North America in 1997, where he was VP-marketing and later CEO. Volvo was then owned by Ford. He returned to GM in 2001 as head of Cadillac and later becoming the North American sales and marketing boss.

In 2009 he became chief marketing officer of Allstate Corp. in Northbrook, Ill., where, among other things, he oversaw the popular “Mayhem” advertising campaign.

Mr. LaNeve left Allstate in February and in mid-May emailed his resume to Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas.

“I was contacted by a couple of other car companies, but Ford is the only one I reached out to,” Mr. LaNeve said.

There was no opening at Ford, but Mr. Fields and Jim Farley, Ford’s marketing chief, gave Satish Korde, Team Detroit’s CEO, the green light to phone Mr. LaNeve. Mr. Korde had been looking for help to handle the agency’s largest client, Ford.

“Mark brings this unbelievable knowledge of an area which we don’t directly get involved in, and that’s going to educate all of my team,” Mr. Korde says.

Ford is banking on Mr. LaNeve’s luxury car experience.

Mr. LaNeve is credited with reviving Cadillac in the early 2000s. Ford wants to rebuild Lincoln with improved products and marketing. Mr. Korde says a new Lincoln ad campaign will be released in November to launch the redesigned 2013 MKZ sedan.

But Lincoln faces challenges that are different from those Cadillac faced a decade ago, Mr. LaNeve said. Today’s light-vehicle market in the United States is smaller than the 17.2 million units sold in 2001. It’s more competitive, and the digital, viral flow of information is much different, he said.

“It’s a different environment, but Ford has a plan for Lincoln that includes a new design language with one product after another over a period of years,” Mr. LaNeve said. “I’m going to learn about it and see how I can contribute.”

Jamie LaReau is a reporter for Automotive News

10431: Delayed WTF 19—Is Ewanick A Dick…?

MultiCultClassics is often occupied with real work. As a result, a handful of events occur without the expected blog commentary. This limited series—Delayed WTF—seeks to make belated amends for the absence of malice.

There has been a fair amount of coverage for the dismissal of former General Motors Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick. A deeper and more thorough official investigation may be warranted, especially given the allegations of improper expenditures by a corporation that benefited from a federal bailout in recent years. But that’s a topic for another post.

The majority of sources have already touched on the obvious obscenities in the scenario. For example, it’s a tad hypocritical for a U.S. automaker to invest so heavily in a promotional tactic abroad. Yet many journalistic entities seem oblivious to the extra disturbing elements.

Ewanick has been heralded as a breakthrough executive who operates far beyond the status quo. His actions at General Motors, however, paint a different picture that can be summed up in three areas:

1. Ego. Ewanick displays serious delusions of Grand Prix. Has any other CMO spent as much time providing quotes and interviews to the advertising trade press? Why, Ewanick has even denied his own statements to reporters. The man appears to think he’s a rock star. Um, Jay-Z is a rock star. J-E is a narcissistic, glorified car salesman.

2. Cronyism. Ewanick has shifted entire accounts without formal reviews, essentially handing work to old pals. Under his watch, an assignment went to Mother New York, an agency employing the wife of GM CFO Dan Ammann. This was a clear violation of SEC rules, and GM had to answer to the federal agency on the matter, admitting proper procedures were not followed.

3. Old School. Don’t believe the hype about Ewanick being a groundbreaking revolutionary. Sure, he shook things up by dumping Facebook and punting the Super Bowl. But it’s likely the man simply doesn’t know what to do with social media, as traditional advertising people tend to be digitally clueless. And on the sports front, all he really did was replace football with fútbol. In the end, the Manchester United maneuver is an old-fashioned celebrity endorsement deal. Nothing new here.

Sorry, the man is a typical corporate car guy who perpetuated the bullshit at General Motors. Ewanick is no maverick. He’s a dick.

10372: Team Detroit Lands Lying Loser LaNeve.

Advertising Age reported Mark LaNeve is joining Team Detroit, the WPP advertising agency servicing Ford. For those who don’t recall, LaNeve is a fucking liar. In 2007, the former General Motors North American VP of marketing and advertising shifted billings from minority agencies to White agencies, despite publicly insisting such a move would never happen. LaNeve later headed to Allstate, taking credit for the awful Mayhem campaign. So after failing at GM and Allstate, the fool surfaces on the agency side—the perfect place for dishonest White men. Gotta feel for the Team Detroit staffers. There’s not much worse than having a lifelong client land a leadership role in an ad shop. WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell gushed, “Mark’s joining the WPP team adds a whole new dimension to our global capability.” A whole new stink too.

Mark LaNeve Joins Team Detroit

Former GM Marketing Boss Lands At Ford Agency

Former General Motors U.S. sales and marketing boss Mark LaNeve has been named chief operating officer at Ford’s agency Team Detroit.

Mr. LaNeve will lead the strategy and overall operations for the Ford and Lincoln businesses globally.

“Much has been accomplished over the past year in restructuring and building our business; the time is right to bring in a new operational leader who will help take us to the next level,” said Satish Korde, CEO of Global Team Ford, to whom Mr. LaNeve will report. “Mark is not only a great industry veteran, he’s a seasoned marketing and automotive executive with a strong background in retail, luxury and also the service industry, bringing a diverse amount of operational experience to this role.”

“Mark’s joining the WPP team adds a whole new dimension to our global capability,” said WPP Chief Executive Martin Sorrell. “The great partnership which we enjoy with Ford will be strengthened even further.”

Mr. LaNeve began his career at GM, serving as brand manager for the Pontiac Bonneville and working for Cadillac. He left in 1997 to become VP-marketing and later CEO of Volvo Cars of North America, then owned by Ford. He returned in 2001 as general manager of Cadillac and became GM North America VP-marketing and advertising in 2004.

He left GM months after the automaker declared bankruptcy in 2009 and became chief marketing officer for Allstate Corp. in Northbrook, Ill., where he oversaw the insurance company’s breakthrough “Mayhem” advertising. Mr. LaNeve resigned from Allstate in February, citing personal reasons.

“Ford is an iconic brand with outstanding leadership, great products and an even better future,” he said in a statement. “With several options for returning to the industry I love, returning home to Detroit to be part of the Ford team through WPP was simply an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

10215: GM Dumps Super Bowl For BET…?

Advertising Age reported General Motors will be sponsoring the BET Awards for the first time. Reparations for once dumping its Black advertising agencies in favor of White shops?

Reassessing Elsewhere, General Motors Buys Into BET Awards

Honors Will Include Cadillac Lifetime Achievement Award

By Jeanine Poggi

General Motors has been re-evaluating its advertising strategy, pulling out of Facebook and the Super Bowl while seeking deep discounts in TV’s annual upfront negotiations. But the automobile giant is finding value in new places, with its luxury Cadillac brand sponsoring the BET Awards for the first time this summer.

The sponsorship includes naming rights for one of the show’s annual awards: Maze featuring Frankie Beverly will receive the rechristened Cadillac Lifetime Achievement Award this year. The show’s other branded awards include the State Farm Humanitarian Award and the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Awards presented by Subway.

“This is more than a media buy,” said Molly Peck, director of advertising at Cadillac. “BET has really been a great partner in allowing us to become integrated with the show, which provides enormous value.

“The BET Awards is the best TV property for reaching a luxury African-American audience,” Ms. Peck added.

Cadillac, which has been a sponsor of the Golden Globes for several years, added the BET Awards now partly because the show, which will take place July 1, lines up well with the introduction of the Cadillac XTS, Ms. Peck said. The new car will share the red carpet with BET stars and shuttle celebrities to and from the pre-dinner. “This made the BET Awards a much more attractive opportunity,” she said.

The sponsorship comes as GM has asked for significant pricing rollbacks in the upfront market, when the TV networks try to sell the bulk of their ad inventory for the coming season. GM also said last month that said it would stop advertising on Facebook and days later announced that it would not buy ads in Super Bowl 2013. It ran four ads in this year’s game, including one for Cadillac.

“The decision to sponsor the BET Awards is independent from the Super Bowl,” Ms. Peck said. “Both properties have enormous, powerful reach, and I am a big fan of the Super Bowl. … But everything has its limits.”

10156: General Motors Pays Mother And Wife.

Advertising Age reported General Motors faced securities regulators last week to defend a $600,000 payment made to Mother New York in 2011. The potential issue? The wife of GM CFO Dan Ammann is an officer and partner in the advertising agency. What makes it all really obscene? Remember, the automaker once dumped its minority shops, handing the multicultural assignments to White agencies. Now it appears spouses from White agencies also receive preferential treatment over minorities. Hell, if GM officials’ house pets opened agencies, the cats and dogs would land AOR status before non-White adpeople.

GM Defends Payment to Ad Agency of CFO’s Spouse

Partner in Mother is Married to Automaker’s Ammann

By Mike Colias

A $600,000 payment from General Motors to an advertising agency in which the wife of CFO Dan Ammann is a partner prompted a mea culpa from GM to securities regulators last week, according to Automotive News.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, GM said it recently learned about the payment, made in 2011 to ad agency Mother New York. Pernilla Ammann, wife of GM CFO Dan Ammann, is an officer and partner in the agency.

GM told the SEC that the transaction “has been properly ratified” under GM’s policies that govern business involving related parties, “but not all the required procedures were followed.”

“‘Properly ratified’ means our CEO and general counsel approved the transaction as being appropriate and in the company’s interest,” GM spokesman Dave Roman told Bloomberg in an e-mail. “In this instance, it was ratified after the fact.”

Mother New York worked on a project related to the centennial of the Chevrolet brand, Mr. Roman said.

The arrangement wasn’t disclosed in the original proxy material for GM’s annual meeting on June 12, according to last week’s filing.

GM said it “recently learned about” the relationship. “They are not doing any work for us at this time,” Mr. Roman said.

GM spent about $1.8 billion on U.S. advertising in 2011, trailing only AT&T and Procter & Gamble, said Jon Swallen, head of research at Kantar Media, a New York company that tracks ad spending.

GM’s marketing department is changing as Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick looks for efficiencies and strives to make Chevrolet and Cadillac global brands.

GM picked Aegis Group’s Carat as the GM agency for media planning and buying, and consolidated Chevrolet’s ad business under one newly formed company, Commonwealth. Chevrolet previously used 70 ad agencies around the world.

Bloomberg contributed to this report.

10040: NASCAR Seeks White Shop For Diversity.

Earlier this month, Target Market News reported NASCAR is seeking an advertising agency to help it reach minority audiences. There is no plan, however, to engage minority shops for the push. In fact, a NASCAR marketing official stated, “In a perfect world, we’re looking for a full-service agency to do it all.” Newly-hired NASCAR Director of Brand and Consumer Marketing Kim Brink is a 20-year veteran of General Motors, another corporate entity that has made questionable decisions regarding the choice of White agencies to handle multicultural duties. In 2007, NASCAR CEO Brian France declared, “If we don’t get diversity right, this sport will not achieve what it needs to achieve from a popularity standpoint.” Maybe Drive For Diversity should be renamed Jive For Diversity.

NASCAR seeking more black fans again, but black ad agencies need not apply

NASCAR has announced it is again renewing its efforts in diversity, this time from getting more drivers of color to attracting more African-Americans and Hispanics to become fans of the sport. Part of that initiative will include hiring an advertising agency to develop a number of new marketing initiatives.

The agency search was announced by Kim Brink, director of brand and consumer marketing for NASCAR. Brink, who was hired less than six months ago, previously spent 20 years at General Motors where she oversaw marketing for the Chevrolet and Cadillac brands. She is looking for an agency that will use an integrated approach to reach out to various consumer segments.

According to staffers of the NASCAR marketing department, there are currently no plans to hire an African American or Hispanic agency to help the racing organization achieve its ethnic outreach or marketing goals. “In a perfect world,” said a member of the marketing department, “we’re looking for a full service agency to do it all.”

In past years, NASCAR has had aggressive initiatives to attract and support more black drivers to the sport. Those efforts ended with only marginal success.

After enjoying a boom in popularity in the early 2000’s, TV audiences and ratings for its races have declined in the past five years. In 2010, BET was carrying a reality show, “Changing Lanes,” that was backed by NASCAR that highlighted the competition between 10 minority drivers to become drivers in major races. None of the drivers was able to achieve lasting success.

NASCAR, which is a privately company and does not release data on its marketing spend, has used general market ad agency, JUMP Co. since 2005 to handle its advertising.

8747: Black People Love Their Rides.

In 2010, Black car buyers created a sales increase that was over 68 percent greater than White purchases, according to Polk. Toyota was the favorite brand among Blacks (with a 15 percent share of market), followed by Ford (11.7 percent), Chevrolet (11.4 percent), Honda (11.3 percent), Nissan (10.2 percent), Hyundai (5.6 percent), Kia (4.2 percent), Dodge (4.0 percent), GMC (2.8 percent) and Volkswagen (2.2 percent). Black consumer market growth leaders were Buick (72.2 percent), Hyundai (53.2 percent), Kia (34.6 percent), Cadillac (34.4 percent), GMC (33.6 percent), Infiniti (30.9 percent), Subaru (28.3 percent) and Audi (27.1 percent). “With the U.S. population growing faster in the African-American segment than others, there’s a significant opportunity for automotive manufacturers and dealers to begin to align marketing initiatives toward this specific audience,” said the product strategist at Polk. “Those companies that are ahead of the curve, like Toyota, are already reaping the rewards.” Gee, maybe that’s why General Motors quietly hired Black ad agencies in late 2010 after dumping minority firms in in recent years—plus, GM appointed a new Diversity VP.

8442: Another Bizarre Report About GM.

Advertising Age reported that General Motors launched a global review of its ad agencies abroad and planned to consolidate assignments; plus, the trade publication even indicated much of the information for the story came from GM Global CMO Joel Ewanick. But check out the update at the end of the piece. The automaker declared, “Contrary to reports in Advertising Age, General Motors is not conducting a review of its global advertising agencies and has no plans to consolidate global agencies.”

Hmmm.

Despite emerging from bankruptcy, seemingly turning itself around and celebrating a 23 percent sales increase in January, the automaker still needs help coordinating its press coverage.

Remember when General Motors insisted it wouldn’t dump its U.S. minority agencies in 2007, but did anyways? Then in 2010, another GM marketing VP admitted she planned to dump minority agencies in favor of White agencies—until GM decided to dump the marketing VP instead. Now Ad Age says GM told them of plans to review and consolidate agencies abroad, yet the automaker insists such actions will not happen.

OK, but MultiCultClassics encourages all of General Motors’ non-White global agencies to watch their backs.

GM Opens Global Review With Eye Toward Consolidation

Process Could Take Year to Complete; Ewanick Says North American Agency Lineup Is Stable

By Rupal Parekh

*This story has been updated to reflect a statement GM sent Ad Age after publication denying a global review of its advertising agencies is taking place.

NEW YORK -- General Motors has kicked off a review of its global agency partners, with an eye at consolidating the automaker’s relationships with advertising agencies outside of the U.S., GM’s Joel Ewanick told Ad Age.

GM ranks as the fourth largest advertiser in the world, with $3.27 billion in measured media spending; about one-third of that figure comes from outside the U.S., according to Ad Age’s DataCenter.

The review will largely concentrate on streamlining the partners handling ad duties around the world for GM’s biggest brand, Chevrolet, which is marketed in 130 countries and sold an estimated 4.3 million vehicles globally last year. But agency relationships for other brands under the GM umbrella could be examined too. The process is in the early stages and is expected to take nearly a year to complete, Mr. Ewanick told Ad Age while on a whirlwind press tour in New York along with Chris Perry, who took over Mr. Ewanick’s former role as U.S. VP-marketing at GM.

The duo, who worked together at Hyundai, are in the Big Apple promoting GM’s plans for the Super Bowl this coming weekend, in which the car company will have an inescapable presence thanks to a total of eight 30-second spots positioned around the event.

Three major advertising holding companies and a handful of global agency networks work with GM around the world. Among them are: Interpublic Group of Cos.’ McCann, DraftFCB and Lowe; Publicis Groupe’s Publicis and Leo Burnett; and WPP’s Y&R.

One agency that could stand to benefit from the process? McCann in Brazil, which is churning out work for Chevrolet that Mr. Ewanick said he’s particularly proud of and is confident could translate easily into other markets. One goal of the review process, the marketer said, is to concentrate work with agencies that going forward could lead worldwide launches of products for GM rather than launching new cars on a regional basis.

The move comes shortly after Mr. Ewanick, 50, was promoted to global chief marketing officer having clocked just about nine months at the Detroit-based auto giant. He’s already largely finished putting his stamp on the automaker’s North American roster of ad shops.

After landing at GM last May, he made a flurry of agency changes—notably, without conducting reviews—that resulted in Omnicom Group’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners becoming the lead creative agency for Chevrolet in North America and Publicis Groupe’s Fallon taking on lead creative duties for the Cadillac brand. Mr. Ewanick said he believes the relationships with his current North American lineup is stable.

After publication, GM contacted Ad Age with this statement: “Contrary to reports in Advertising Age, General Motors is not conducting a review of its global advertising agencies and has no plans to consolidate global agencies. GM is always looking for ways to collaborate and coordinate among our global partners, but we are not conducting a review process and there are no plans for global consolidation.”

8148: OMG, GM Names Diversity VP.

WXTV posted the press release below. Most amusing is the statement that reads, “GM has a rich heritage of being at the forefront on diversity issues…” Um, like when the automaker essentially dumped its minority advertising agencies?

Eric Peterson Named U.S. Vice President for Diversity

DETROIT, Nov. 5, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- General Motors today announced that Eric Peterson has been named U.S. Vice President, Diversity. Peterson, 58, will also continue to serve as director, industry dealer affairs, where he manages relationships with GM’s National Dealer Council, Minority Dealer Advisory Council, and Women’s Dealer Advisory Council, as well as with the National Automobile Dealers Association.

In his new role, Peterson reports to Mark Reuss, president, GM North America, and Mary Barra, vice president, global human resources. In his role as director, industry dealer affairs, Peterson will continue to report to Jim Bunnell, general manager, dealer network and sales support.

“GM has a rich heritage of being at the forefront on diversity issues, and Eric will play a key role as we continue to build on this,” said Reuss. “As a global company, with operations in more than 120 countries, we are committed to a culture of diversity and inclusion. We believe this will give GM a strategic advantage in designing, building, and selling the world’s best vehicles.”

Prior to his current assignment, Peterson served as regional sales and marketing manager in GM’s South Central Region. Peterson also led GM’s dealer development organization, which spearheaded efforts to appoint more minorities and women as dealer operators in GM’s retail dealer network.

“I am excited to be able to help strengthen GM’s ongoing commitment to diversity with our customers, employees, dealers, suppliers, and communities,” said Peterson. “My belief has always been that understanding and embracing our differences makes us stronger and helps GM win in the marketplace.”

7936: Weekend Hookers.

Servicing adults with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• At the urging of 17 state attorneys general, craigslist shut down its adult services section. Which means state governors will now seek alternate means of securing sessions with hookers.

• Sears is attempting to once again make over its apparel offering. Whatever the retailer creates, it’s a safe bet customers will still wind up looking like hookers.

• The guy charged with trying to extort talk-show host David Letterman was released from jail. Look for ratings whore Jay Leno to invite the extortionist to appear on The Tonight Show.

• Rev. Jesse Jackson’s ride—a 2009 Cadillac Escalade—was stolen in Detroit. The vehicle was later recovered, although with a broken window and missing rims. Now, there are some karmic components at work here. First, given that General Motors cut its Black advertising agency for Cadillac and handed the responsibilities to White shops, it seems odd that Jackson would support the brand by purchasing an Escalade. Let’s just hope the SUV wasn’t in a Burger King parking lot when thieves heisted it.

7676: General Motors Revs Up Controversy.

Advertising Age reported on the Chevy account shifting from Publicis to Goodby Silverstein & Partners, publishing a whining memo typed by Publicis chairman-CEO Susan Gianinno, as well as a story titled, “Behind the Chevrolet Shift: Publicis Didn’t Rate a Callback,” which offered behind-the-scenes details on the event.

Gee, this scenario really drives home the exclusivity and arrogance of Whites in the advertising industry.

Publicis is crying foul because new General Motors/Chevy CMO Joel Ewanick opted to dump them in favor of GSP—an agency that has produced successful work with Ewanick in the past—sans a review or even a courtesy phone call.

Oh, such horrors! Decisions are being made based on personal relationships and subjective preferences. To quote Gianinno’s silly memo, “How could this happen?”

Imagine if Gianinno were running a multicultural shop, and she had to accept GM’s decision to replace the minorities with a White agency. At least Gianinno was part of a straight swap—White for White. Gianinno shed no tears when GM screwed multicultural shops, and she likely didn’t feel remorse when her agency booted Campbell-Ewald, the incumbent for 91 years.

Additionally, GSP is a gazillion times better than Publicis in every way, shape and form. As White ad executives are quick to declare when accused of hiring discrimination, people in our industry are judged solely on talent. Nothing more, nothing less.

However, this declaration apparently doesn’t apply when the ones facing judgment are White people.