Automotive News - January 28, 2008 - (Page 16) 16 • JANUARY 28, 2008 ADVERTISING STAFF GM cuts sponsorships, targets ‘shared garage’ Jamie LaReau jlareau@crain.com GM’s plan Target households that have a GM truck with an import car. Use so-called relationship and digital marketing and direct mail. Increase grass-roots efforts and cut national sponsorships “We’re going to stay with NASCAR and the NFL, and we’ll get even more involved with those than we were,” LaNeve says. “But then we’ll do a lot more smaller ones with grass roots, bloggers, social networking media and those types of things — more targeted.” DETROIT — General Motors plans fewer big national sponsorships as it shifts to more targeted grass-roots advertising campaigns this year. One such campaign will target the millions of Chevrolet truck owners in a household that also owns an import-brand car — a “shared garage,” as GM dubs it. The goal is to win those consumers over to a GM car, says Mark LaNeve, vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing. GM’s 2008 marketing budget is flat compared with last year, LaNeve says. According to Advertising Age, GM’s 2006 advertising spending budget was $2.2 billion. A 2007 figure is not yet available. That budget last year was up slightly. Mark LaNeve: “We’re getting more efficient in the way we spend.” approach targeted customers with direct mail or digital media. For example, GM is using OnStar’s onboard vehicle diagnostics to communicate with truck owners. “We’ve done a lot, and we’re going to do even more,” LaNeve says. “We have got to get it sophisticated.” Dealers say GM indicated late last year that it targeted about 1 million households as shared garages to which it would tout the new Chevrolet Malibu. Of the total number of shared garages, LaNeve says: “It’s a big number, like 18 million owners that we have data on.” In 2006 and 2007, GM made a big shift in ad dollars away from traditional media such as TV and print to digital advertising. “We’re getting more efficient in the way we spend, but we’re going to do more,” LaNeve says. “Obviously, we’ll do a lot less via television at the local marketing level and do more digital at the local marketing level.” Circulation 313-446-0450 Advertising 313-446-6790 Classified Advertising 313-446-6065, 800-388-1800 E-mail lschlagheck@crain.com Web site www.autonews.com ADVERTISING AND SALES DETROIT 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, MI 48207-2997 313-446-6790 Fax: 313-446-8030 Larry Schlagheck, Advertising Director lschlagheck@crain.com, 313-446-6790 Rick Greer, rgreer@crain.com 313-446-6050 Kathleen C. Lightbody, klightbody@crain.com, 313-446-6037 Russ Procassini, rprocassini@crain.com 313-446-0350 Karen Rentschler, krentschler@crain.com 313-446-6058 Jerry Salame, jsalame@crain.com 313-446-0481 Regional Sales Managers Bryan Foster, Marketing Director bfoster@crain.com, 313-446-6013 Ellen Dennehy Director of Relationship Marketing edennehy@crain.com, 313-446-6039 Lance Graves, Promotion Art Director lgraves@crain.com, 313-446-0469 Marie Hingst Classified Advertising Manager mhingst@crain.com, 313-446-6065 Dolores Lanivich, Denise Hendricks Classified Advertising Sales LOS ANGELES Justus Breese jbreese@crain.com, 323-370-2446 Pacific Region Sales Manager Lauren Ford, lford@crain.com 323-370-2447 Todd Landau, tlandau@crain.com 323-370-2466 Regional Sales Managers 6500 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048-4947 Fax: 323-655-8157 NEW YORK Scott Ghedine sghedine@crain.com, 212-210-0126 Henry Woodhouse hwoodhouse@crain.com, 212-210-0125 Regional Sales Managers 711 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017-4036 Fax: 212-210-0489 CHICAGO Jim Farnan, Regional Sales Manager jfarnan@crain.com, 312-649-5257 360 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60601-3806 Fax: 312-649-5265 Turning to digital That could change because the other media are important, LaNeve says. But right now, the TV writers’ strike is forcing GM to look at digital alternatives. “We think television, print, outdoors and radio still has big importance in the marketing mix, but we have made a significant shift,” LaNeve says. “We’ll incrementally spend a little more in that space (digital) in 2008, but not near the quantum big step we took in 2006 and 2007.” One high-profile casualty of GM’s cutback in national sponsorships is Cadillac’s long partnership with the Masters golf tournament. MercedesBenz is replacing Cadillac as the tournament’s automotive sponsor this year.c Longtime target GM’s big push is to shared-garage homes — an area that LaNeve sees as a huge opportunity. GM has been trying to target those homes for years but now has better tools with advances in digital marketing. GM is using so-called customer relationship marketing to reach shared-garage homes, LaNeve says. In such efforts, marketers generally gmdealergroupadvertising.com 800-992 2723 Will your Credit Insurance After 2 decades, Audi ads company exit the business return to the Super Bowl and leave you high and dry? Diana T. Kurylko dkurylko@crain.com CARDIF INSURANCE • Credit related insurance is all we do so you know we’re in this business for the long haul. • We have a Life company and a P&C company. • Financial Strength – Our ultimate parent company has over $1.9 Trillion in assets. Mike Casale – President (877) 522-7343 mike.casale@cardifus.com As part of its U.S. marketing push, Audi of America is coming back to the Super Bowl for the first time in nearly 20 years. Its ad will kick off a year of intensified marketing, with Audi’s U.S. marketing budget growing by $25 million to $30 million, according to Johan de Nysschen, head of Audi of America. Audi’s 60-second Super Bowl ad will have a theme based on the movie The Godfather and feature the lowslung, midengine R8 sports car. Actor Alex Rocco, who played Moe Greene in the first Godfather movie, will be in the Audi commercial. “At its core, the film is about a struggle between old and new power,” Scott Keogh, Audi’s chief marketing officer, said in a release. “In pre- Johan de Nysschen: A big marketing push in 2008 cisely that fashion, Audi represents the rise of a new force in luxury.” The commercial will run once in the first quarter of the Super Bowl, and a 30-second version will be broadcast the next day. Audi also will build a temporary Audi Forum dealership in Phoenix, where the Super Bowl is being played, to host VIPs and celebrities during the week of the big game. Users registered at Audi.com will be able to preview the spot and additional footage from filming on the day of the Super Bowl. Audi’s return to the Super Bowl is part of the brand’s new strategy to spend marketing money where it matters. De Nysschen declined to give a figure for total spending but confirmed that Audi’s measured media last year was about $70 million — some of which is used for promotional activities. “We have taken the approach that, as a small company, we cannot conquer the whole United States at once,” de Nysschen says. This means that starting in 2008, Audi will spend about 70 percent of its marketing and dealer development budget in its top 35 markets, de Nysschen says. These markets account for about 80 percent of Audi’s U.S. sales, he says. “Our board acknowledges in terms of overall marketing spend, we are spending at a lower level than our competitors,” he says. “But if you look at it at a per-car basis, we are very competitive.”c CONFERENCES Libby Irwin, Conference Director lirwin@crain.com, 313-446-0420 Shauna Vercher-Morrow Special Events Manager svercher-morrow@crain.com, 313-446-0485 WWW.AUTONEWS.COM John Fitzgerald, Director of Business Planning and Online Commerce jfitzgerald@crain.com, 313-446-1679 CIRCULATION subs@crain.com 888-446-1422 (U.S. & Canada) 313-446-1662 (all other locations) Fax: 313-446-6777 To subscribe via the Web www.autonews.com/subscribe.htm Patrick Sheposh, Circulation Director Lauren Cialella, Circulation Manager Jennifer Natone, Circulation Coordinator Subscriptions U.S. 1 year, $155; 2 years, $266. Canada $239 (U.S.); other countries, $395. Single copy sales, $5 per issue plus shipping. 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