Hyundai initiates a menage-a-trois…

Hyundai is taking back a former lover agency by hiring The Richards Group out of Dallas to run a “mini-campaign” for them in all their regional markets. Hyundai has been having some issues with Goodby since the disastrous Superbowl campaign and their were rumours that they were returning to the comfortable bosom of The Richards Group here on Agency Spy last week.

Richards created all the national and regional advertising for Hyundai before then-COO Steve Wilhite disbanded the dealer groups at the end of 2006 and hired Goodby in April 2007.

Joel Ewanick, VP of Marketing at Hyundai, stressed that the current lead national agency, Omnicom Group’s Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, remains in good standing, and he reiterated that the shop’s “Dollars and sense sales event” campaign was yielding positive results for the Fountain Valley, Calif., automaker.

More into the complications of automakers and their dealer networks from Adweek:

“Before Goodby came aboard, the Eastern dealers opted to stay together and kept their ad business at Richards, Ewanick said, renewing Richards’ contract in January. According to sources, the value of the business exceeds $25 million in annual media.

A dealer-group system was reinstated as the year began. Sixty-seven groups now operate in six regions: California, East, West, South, South Central and Central. They are free to choose whichever agencies they please for local work, Ewanick said. Goodby continues to handle the bulk of the regional advertising.

The factory funding of the six regions’ advertising is based on “strategic communications objectives, rather than on wholesale. That way we could build programs in regions that are sustainable and consistent,” Ewanick said.”