From Detroit to Dubai, advertising industry insiders are buzzing over General Motors Co.’ $3 billion-plus global media agency review. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Marketing experts point to a desire by the car maker to trim fat out of its marketing budget and to make sure media dollars are being allocated in step with changing consumer consumption habits. More evidence that GM is looking to cut costs: In the U.S. it is weighing a plan to cut spending to return it to pre-bankruptcy levels.

Already in the first quarter of 2011, the automaker’s ad spending was down 8.3 percent even though it returned to the Super Bowl — where 30 seconds of commercial time cost as much as $3 million — after sitting the game out amid its bankruptcy. GM spent $3.37 billion on global media last year, according to the Advertising Age Data Center. If the first-quarter cuts in marketing hold up all year, that could mean up to $279 million in savings.

The company spent $4.26 billion overall on worldwide advertising in 2010, according to the company’s annual report. GM spent about 67 percent of its 2010 worldwide advertising and sales promotion money in North America, according to the report.

As reported this week by Advertising Age, an affiliate of Automotive News, GM has thrown its $3 billion-plus global media-buying and planning duties into review. It noted in a statement that it’s seeking proposals from global media shops “on ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its global operations for purchased media.” The company works with more than 20 media-buying companies globally.

Following the report, GM spokesman Tom Henderson provided further detail, explaining that GM’s global marketing team — including global Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick — will lead the review, but that the automaker will have help from Chicago-based search consultancy R3:JLB in managing the process. The search comes as Ewanick has promoted his No. 2, Chris Perry, formerly the U.S. marketing chief, to a global role.
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