Leo Burnett Gets Axed on Caddy Account

[Flybrian]

Link to original article @ TCC.com

Leo Burnett Gets Axed on Caddy Account

In what can hardly be called a surprise, General Motors Monday fired long-time Cadillac ad agency Leo Burnett. Burnett, which had lost half the business a few months ago after Liz Vanzura moved from HUMMER to run the Cadillac brand, will continue to handle Pontiac advertising and various GM retail business ads.

The agency will hand over reins to Boston-based Modernista on Oct. 1. Modernista, which also handles HUMMER, was tapped by Vanzura to handle Caddy's CTS, SRX, performance V-Series models and other projects a few months ago. Burnett was to continue on STS and Escalade. But the arrangement wasn't working, said GM insiders.

Burnett had been on and off the griddle with GM for several years on what is a $225 million account, because of uneven creative work and the inability to retain top creative talent on the account. The last straw was when the agency produced an especially bad Super Bowl ad for the Escalade last January. The lameness of the ad-which depicted the SUV dripping with chrome on a runway in a surreal fashion show-was particularly damning because Detroit hosted the big game and the Escalade was the sponsor of the MVP Award. The ad was also expensive, requiring a rented airplane hangar, model Rachel Hunter and some 250 extras over the course of a week's worth of shooting. The loss of the account will undoubtedly mean a major layoff at Burnett's Troy, Mich., offices.

"GM today is moving fast, making dramatic changes in how we run out business and offering up some beautifully designed and well-engineered cars and trucks," Mike Jackson, VP-marketing and advertising for the automaker in North America, said in a prepared statement. "We are also making some changes in how we market and advertise these products as we work to revitalize our sales and marketing strategy."

Burnett is said by GM insiders to not be safe on the Pontiac business either. The company is already known to have seen a presentation and strategy for the brand by New York ad agency Deutsch Inc. According to sources, the strategy was very well-received within GM regarding where the company wants to take the brand in the next few years, but didn't answer how to market the brand during transition. Still, Deutsch got some Chevrolet project work out of the effort and is laying in wait for a bigger assignment.-Jim Burt

[Northstar]

The STS ads suck too. The only creative one was "ballroom dancing" and it wasn't even that good.

[pow]

Yeah, I've always wondered why HUMMER was branded so uniquely compared to the rest of the GM brands. All the HUMMER ads I've seen so far are great, and I love how their website doesn't share the same layout with Chevy, Buick, Pontiac, Saab, GMC, etc. (Ew, platform sharing.)

[pow]

The ads almost compensate for the generalization that most Hummer owners are red-meat-eating, gun-toting, male chauvinists...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN0WJUcUicc...rch=hummer%20ad

Sadly, this sort of local advertising kinda kills it...

Also, the Happy Jack ad (with music from The Who) was brilliant!

Edited July 10, 2006 by empowah

[sciguy_0504]

The Super Bowl commercial was very lame. I saw it the other day.

[Flybrian]

Sadly, this sort of local advertising kinda kills it...

164715[/snapback]

"Tell 'em about it, Jo-Jo!"

[pow]

I saw a new one today, with a well-groomed, yoga-doing (probably) guy waiting in line carrying a package of tofu, next to some other guy piling red meat onto a supermarket conveyor belt. Red meat guy walks out into his POS econobox, while tofu guy climbs into his H2, followed by "restore your manhood."

[jbartley]

I saw a new one today, with a well-groomed, yoga-doing (probably) guy waiting in line carrying a package of tofu, next to some other guy piling red meat onto a supermarket conveyor belt. Red meat guy walks out into his POS econobox, while tofu guy climbs into his H2, followed by "restore your manhood."

164962[/snapback]

he gets in an H3. And in the longer edit of it, he runs out of the grocery store, gets in his POS car, drives to the hummer dealership, buys an H3, and then drives off happy.

That commercial is HILARIOUS, it had everyone on the cardio machines at the gym, cracking up. That's the kinds of advertising GM needs, something that gets everyones attention, regardless if they are going to buy a hummer or not.

Edited July 21, 2006 by jbartley

[pow]

he gets in an H3. And in the longer edit of it, he runs out of the grocery store, gets in his POS car, drives to the hummer dealership, buys an H3, and then drives off happy.

That commercial is HILARIOUS, it had everyone on the cardio machines at the gym, cracking up.  That's the kinds of advertising GM needs, something that gets everyones attention, regardless if they are going to buy a hummer or not.

169511[/snapback]

There's a new "get your girl on" one, which is also hilarious.

[pow]

he gets in an H3. And in the longer edit of it, he runs out of the grocery store, gets in his POS car, drives to the hummer dealership, buys an H3, and then drives off happy.

That commercial is HILARIOUS, it had everyone on the cardio machines at the gym, cracking up.  That's the kinds of advertising GM needs, something that gets everyones attention, regardless if they are going to buy a hummer or not.

169511[/snapback]

Now it's "restore the balance."