Chrysler is closing shop for 30 days. Shutting down production. Making no cars.
From a Mad Man’s perspective, it’s horrible time to be on the Chrysler account.
Ad Age Exhibit A: A Chrysler Bankruptcy Could Leave Omnicom Out $80M
Ad Age Exhibit B: Omnicom Set to Cut Up to 3,500 Jobs
Should Chrysler fail to make good on their debts, PHD, Chrysler’s media agency, would be in the worst position. Omnicom siblings BBDO, Cutwater and Organic are the automaker’s other agency partners.
Last month BBDO slashed 22% of its staff in Detroit as Chrysler indicated it plans to reduce its marketing activity.
It’s tough to feel sorry for Omnicom. Or any other ad agency about to suffer along with its car clients. After all, couldn’t you argue that bad advertising and lousy marketing helped fuel poor car sales? The imports seem to be doing much better (and their ads tend to be better too). Ford is apparently not in the same dire straits as GM and Chrysler. If your client goes belly up, you have to take some responsibility too. Plus, Omnicom has its hands on other automakers (I believe Nissan is handled by TBWA Chiat\Day; plus, Omnicom recently brokered a deal to take over Nissan’s multicultural work). If anything is unfair, it’s that the major holding companies are servicing so many competitive products through their networks. Omnicom leaders are probably upset because this is not another scenario where they can simply hold a sibling shootout and shift an account to another agency in the network. This time, they will lose an account. Boo hoo.