As the New York Times puts it this morning: “Even after receiving $15.4 billion in federal loans, General Motors is once again on the brink of financial collapse.” The reason is that the automaker burned through $10.2 billion in the firs quarter, while revenue dropped by almost half to $22.4 billion.
Does that mean GM is heading for bankruptcy? Possibly. Does that mean more bad news for the advertising industry, which has been hard hit by the pullback in spending from automakers? Not necessarily.
Take, for instance, the case of Chrysler. Adweek reports that the company, after filing for bankruptcy protection, is launching a new ad campaign that will debut on May 11 during prime-time television.
The initiative crafted by Omnicom Group’s BBDO in Detroit is designed to remind consumers that the automaker is still open for business, while highlighting the range of current and future vehicles in Chrysler’s portfolio and touting its rebirth as a global car company per its alliance with Fiat of Italy.
“When we asked consumers what they wanted to know about Chrysler, they told us to tell them about our products, tell them why they should buy our vehicles and give them a reason why they should be confident in the future of this company,” said Steven Landry, the company’s evp, North American sales, marketing, motor parts and service. “We believe this campaign delivers on all of those objectives. In addition, this campaign gives us the opportunity to reinforce that it’s business as usual and demonstrate a bright future ahead for Chrysler.”
