Archive: October 2008

Many companies wrestle with what sort of communications channels to provide their employees and may consider anything other than email a waste of their employees’ time. Company executives visiting a social-networking space for their employees have been known to complain about the potential for diminished productivity. “Can we bury that thing?” is a common design suggestion.

Detroit, we have a problem. Falling marketing budgets and deteriorating purchase volume in the global market put incredible pressure on the automotive CMO. Even without the financial crisis and the beginning of a recession, global share gains for search and interactive media were likely. Faced with significant uncertainty, marketing strategy shouldn’t be limited to optimizing the media mix.

YouTube visitors flipping through automotive-related video clips who come across a made-for-digital dealer advertisement may be surprised at what they see. Common preconceptions would immediately draw parallels to the 1980’s spots for electronics purveyor Crazy Eddie that featured radio DJ Jerry Carroll, or some other overly caffeinated character, screaming in your face.  Not a pretty thought.  But then again, neither is the state of the U.S. automotive industry today.  With U.S. auto sales at their lowest levels in 15 years and with Annette Sykora, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, warning last week that up to 700 dealers nationally could close their doors by the end of year, OEMs and dealers alike are looking for the most efficient ways to connect with consumers and, let’s face it, move metal.

Marketing Hummers has become a tad difficult recently. The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate nearly doubled between the summers of 2007 and 2008 and automotive media budgets decreased more than 11 percent between the first halves of 2007 and 2008, marking 12 consecutive quarters of declining ad spending in this category.