(ed note: ok…a random high number generated there for effect …but you get what I mean)
Seems the creative portion of Mitsubishi Motors North America is in play again — to the tune of $190 million in billings - this time they are dumping BBDO West out of LA for the thought that there are greener pastures somewhere else yet to be determined. (They are also apparently shit-canning Omnicom’s Organic on the digital front as well.)
From Adweak:
“Agency representative Roy Elvove said BBDO would not defend: “We were aware that the contract was up and that an RFP had been issued, and decided not to participate. We will try to make the transition as smooth as possible.” BBDO added the account in March 2005.
“BBDO West has been instrumental in the revitalization of the Mitsubishi brand in North America,” said Dan Kuhnert, client evp of sales and marketing, in a statement. “However, as Mitsubishi Motors begins a new three-year plan globally, it is appropriate for us to consider new possibilities.”
BBDO has most recently produced ads tagged “It’s go time,” a shift from the automaker’s “Driven to thrill” positioning that stressed its “J-Cool” (“Japanese-Cool”) heritage.
Omnicom’s PHD handles media chores, which are not in play.
Mitsubishi was up 9 percent in sales in 2007 to 129,000 units, per Car Concepts, on the strength of the Outlander and Galant. (Mitsubishi is down 15 percent to 16,000 units through February 2008.)”
So they have the balls to raise sales by 9% overall and still lose the account. Of course, it used to be at Deutsch out of LA as well — they of the ads that had the young adults dancing in their cars as they drove through the Shipyards in Long Beach listening to some techno-like music — but not sure what the ads have been doing lately … other than driving sales apparently — the gall of the agency to actually drive sales.
March 25, 2008 at 6:13 pm
is there any agency that hasn’t had that account in the past decade?
March 25, 2008 at 7:49 pm
to be clear: that brand’s sales rose in spite of the advertising. all asian car brands have been on the rise over the last five years to do the shitty cars coming out of detroit.
March 26, 2008 at 3:25 am
who cares.
another rookie move by a knuckle head marketer. in this case, i think the CMO turn-over has actually been higher than their agency turn-over. Mitsuturdy.com
April 24, 2008 at 5:32 am
To be fair, despite their many (many) internal flaws, this client’s biggets is they let their agencies get away with crap that the likes of Toyota…well, okay, Honda would never allow. Projects were always late, there was always little accountability and interactive projects were the worse. Top this off with BBDO’s quest to edge out Organic in order to take over interactive in their efforts to get a bigger share of the dwindling pie and you had to be blind and deaf not to know this was coming. Bottom line and a lesson to all in the “short list” of seven…any account that changes agencies every 3 years is never worth the effort.