After taking U.S. bailout, Chrysler hires Italian agency

[The Northerner]

Source: Advertising Age

DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- Chrysler Group's Olivier Francois, the president-CEO of the Chrysler vehicle brand, has tapped Armando Testa, his ad agency for Italian Lancia, to refashion a Lancia commercial for the U.S. market. Hiring an Italian agency for the work may not sit well with American taxpayers, who bailed out the ailing Chrysler earlier this year with billions of dollars in loans. And all of the several hundreds of staffers of Chrysler Group's longtime ad agency, BBDO Detroit, will be out of work at the end of January when the contract expires.

The 30-second commercial for the sleek Chrysler 300 sedan breaks today on national TV and is very similar to a Lancia commercial from a year ago calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's pro-democracy leader and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, who has been in and out of house arrest since 1989. Although the car is shown, it is not the focus of the commercial. A version of this latest video was initially created as part of the Lancia brand's sponsorship of the 10th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Berlin last month. Lancia also sponsored the event a year ago, when the first Lancia spot broke.

"We produced the TV film in honor of all those who put their lives at stake in the hopes of making the world a better place," Mr. Francois said in a prepared statement. "For Chrysler, this is a chance to use our brand image to join with others in the fight for peace and to knock down the walls that divide us. We at Chrysler believe in doing the right thing and making a difference."

Julie Roehm, a former Chrysler Group marketing chief, said social causes have a place in advertising, but she believes the automaker chose the wrong one with this execution.

Read more: http://adage.com/article?article_id=140855

---

How disgraceful.

They couldn't find one US ad agency who could've done the work?

[Arctic Dave]

1. Another job Americans refuse to do?

[alfredo]

2. They will need more than marketing to undo the reputation for making

poor quality cars.

[FarCenter]

3. Apparently adage got it wrong -- Fallon in Minneapolis is the new Chrysler ad agency

In the comments on the article:

Olivier Francois, President and Chief Executive Officer - Chrysler Brand, Chrysler Group LLC and Lancia Brand, Fiat Group Automobiles, submitted the following letter to the editor to AdvertisingAge in response to an article published Dec. 3, 2009:

Today we at Chrysler discovered that an act of social responsibility, running a film letting Americans know that the freedom of a Nobel laureate is currently being denied in Burma, was portrayed in Ad Age as a potential affront to taxpayers here. We'd like to set the record straight and have your readers draw their own conclusions.

First, this film was created by Lancia's Italian ad agency. For efficiencies, it was then re-worked for Chrysler. This was also not Chrysler "hiring" the agency, and in fact neither the agency nor the leadership of Nobel, nor the other Nobel Prize winners in the film charged us even a penny for it. The only costs were actually spent here in the US, to two companies to coordinate and manage the trafficking of this film.

Second, this was a one-time execution with the Italian agency, as we informed the reporter before she wrote the story.

In fact, we have hired Fallon of Minneapolis to be Chrysler Brand's official ad agency, and they are presently developing new commercials to start airing this year.

Hopefully we can enjoy the freedom of having your readers in a democratic society decide for themselves if they should be upset, or whether we instead exercised fiscal responsibility in producing this important film.


Olivier Francois
President and Chief Executive Officer - Chrysler Brand, Chrysler Group LLC and Lancia Brand, Fiat Group Automobiles

[Auggie]

8. Good news

[xultar]

4. If I remember correctly they had to be bought by Fiat as a part of the deal. So that is what they

Get for forcing Chrysler to do that.

GM got more help from the US than Chrysler then. So they can hire who they want.

[tomm2thumbs]

5. 'Chrysler' is actually Italian for 'free money'.....nt

[dysfunctional press]

6. it's one 30-second commercial, and the ceo is familiar with the agency...

it's a non-issue- they can hire who they want.

[Romulox]

7. The Obama admin essentially gave Chrysler to Fiat. nt

[high density]

9. Fiat = Italian

Lots of stuff for this company is going to begin coming from Italy in the coming years.

[divideandconquer]

10. And some stuff from the USA is going to Europe

Fiat May Replace Lancia Models with Chryslers in Europe
Posted December 3 2009 06:00 AM by Andrew Peterson
Category: News


Fiat plans to make Chrysler a more global brand, and may begin as early as 2011 by rebadging various Lancia models as Chryslers in Europe.

“There is no doubt that, outside a limited number of markets in Europe, Chrysler is going to be the global brand,” Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat and Chrysler, told Automotive News Europe last month.

Even though Lancia models may start to disappear, Marchionne did not say that the 103-year-old Italian brand will disappear. He instead said Fiat will find a way to preserve the brand while communizing as much of the portfolio with Chrysler as possible.

One scenario is for the Lancia brand to be sold in a limited number of European markets such as Belgium, France, and its home country of Italy. Lancia sold a total of 103,000 vehicles last year, with 93,000 of those sales in Italy. Chrysler sold 29,000 cars in Europe last year.
------------------------------------
<http://rumors.automobilemag.com/6612756/news/fiat-may-replace-lancia-models-with-chryslers-in-europe/index.html>

Automotive News Europe _{reports that Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has ordered a strategic review of the Alfa Romeo brand, citing declining sales and mounting losses. Alfa’s sales have fallen from 203,000 units in 2000 to 103,000 last year, and the brand has lost between €200m and €400m in each of the last ten years. According to Marchionne, Fiat’s sporty brand has undergone too many reinventions. “You cannot be a newborn Christian every four years,” he explains. “It’s the same religion, eventually you need to own a religion and carry it to conclusion.” The recent delay of the 147 replacement due to name-related issues was merely the latest trouble for the Alfa brand, which has struggled with aging products and underinvestment. According to Marchionne, Alfa faces two possible futures: retirement or rebirth… on Chrysler platforms?
---------------------------------------
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/alfa-romeo-strategic-review-ordered-chrysler-based-models-in-the-works/}