Hyundai's Former Marketing Guru Leads GM to Recommit to Black Ad Agencies

For years GM has been at the forefront of working with the minority community, specifically the African American community as a number of automakers have straddled the fence, hiring general market agencies to handle their African American ad accounts, while retaining or recruiting Hispanic agencies to handle their community.

Since Mike Jackson, once GM's top marketing guy, who happened to be an African American, left the company several years ago, many critics believed the automaker made a number of missteps as it related to selecting an ad agency. After having Carol H.Williams Agency as being the African American agency of record for many of their brands for years, the agency's role was virtually diminished and replaced for a short-tenure by a general market agency and Sanders-Wingo, another African American-owned agency. Unlike Carol H.Williams Agency, who was once the number one ad agency on Black Enterprise magazine annual ranking of businesses and was responsible for handling a number of GM's brands at the time, Sanders-Wingo was only assigned the Chevy account.

Chevy's all-new world-class 2011 Cruze is pictured, replacing the aging Cobalt.

Moreover, after GM emerged from bankruptcy last year and after going through another round of senior-level marketing changes, the automaker decided to assign the African American account to their general market ad agency. Ironically, since tax payers owned a significant share of the automaker, this just wasn't a smart decision by the senior marketing executive. Obviously, there was an uproar from within the community and more changes were soon to follow.

With another shift in the top marketing chair, GM lured Hyundai's top marketing guru earlier this summer, Joel Ewanick. Ewanick was responsible for Hyundai's recession-proof ads that paid consumer payments for up to six months in case of a job loss. Now as far as we know, Hyundai has never had an African American agency on record. So it came as a surprise last week, when it was announced that two African American-owned ad agencies were being hired by America's number new-vehicle sales automaker, Carol H. Williams Agency and Spike DDB. Carol H. Williams Agency would again be apart of the GM family, developing creatives targeting the African American community. In the past, Cadillac's African American account was worth about $25 to $30 million, according to Nielsen.

Which Minority Group Are Automakers Steering More Ad Dollars Toward?

Minority Automotive Media Spending
2007 2008 2009 African Americans  $143,555,000.94  $105,019,000.80  $  85,966,000.60 Hispanics  $659,717,000.00  $528,577,000.88  $323,230,000.00 SOURCE: The Nielsen Company
Since 2003, it has been documented that the Hispanic population has become the leading minority group in America, displacing the  African American population from its throne. The latest census  estimates, as of 2009 also illustrates this population shift.  Hispanics now account for 15.8% of the population, while  African Americans represent 12.3% of the U. S. population.  Moreover, in 2007, a report from the Polk organization, a  data mining company that tracks vehicle sales, determined that  Hispanics and African Americans accounted for 9.9% and  7.1% respectively, of total new-vehicle sales. This is the latest  public data we were able to secure, comparing both minority groups. Unfortunately, as we've determined, the advertising dollars  being allocated by the automakers to both minority groups is quite telling.  In fact, over the past three years auto  advertisers have spent five times as much targeting the new minority group - Hispanics - while virtually walking away  from the African American community. Automakers spent  approximately $1.5 billion and  $334 million  respectively, targeting the Hispanic and African  American media, according to the Nielsen Company. This imbalance of spending was quite evident last year when the  automotive companies, which excludes local dealers, virtually ignored promoting the controversial, but extremely popular government-run Cash for Clunkers Program with the urban  media. With the exception of a limited number of ads airing on The Steve Harvey Morning Show, the urban  community was all but ignored. (We also must point out Steve Harvey has an exclusive relationship with Ford.) And, at the time, GM and Chrysler were in bankruptcy  and had limited funds to advertise. There was no opportunity via the national media outlets to let African Americans know specifically how they could save upwards of $8,000 (or more) purchasing a new-vehicle by trading in a clunker. This number  doesn't factor in finance savings, which further drives up cost  savings. Yet, for the most part, the African American media  outlets kept their community immersed with salacious  entertainment and hot-bed political issues during this time  period. Unfortunately, African Americans, who primarily depend on the  urban media to keep them informed,were basically left in the dark  about this lucrative, one-of-a-kind incentive program. Was this  done by design? How many extra sales could have been added to the auto industry had they properly targeted and educated the  African American community about this complicated  government-run program?   Conversely, in the Hispanic media, advertisers promoted the  government-run program heavily. African Americans like  Hispanics rely on their media sources to keep them informed.  Yet, as of late, we've found most advertisers and marketing gurus only allocate their marketing budget to the Hispanic and general  (mainstream) population.