Cadillac aims for the world - and puts its ad business up for grabs
Cadillac, the General Motors luxury US brand has global ambitions beyond the US and Canada . Now it has confirmed that it is shopping for more "globally-orientated creative ideas for the brand", according to Adweek.
The new 2014 CTS ... "true prestige."
The brand spends nearly $250 million in media annually and is shopping for a new agency.
The incumbent is Fallon but the car giant will consider pitches from agencies within Interpublic Group, Omnicom Group and Publicis Groupe, a GM representative said.
Interpublic, for example, has put forth Campbell Ewald, which used to work on GM's Chevrolet brand, according to sources said Adweek.
Fallon itself is a unit of Publicis Groupe, but GM expects the holding company to field a second player.
"We went to the heads of those organisations and asked them to consider who they thought would be right for the job," was how GM put it.
Fallon's has been praised for past creative work, and won an Effie for the launch of the brand's new ATS model.
However, the brand is seeking more global options as it looks to expand outside the U.S. and Canada, which Fallon has focused on.
"We owe it to ourselves to consider bigger and better approaches to the growth of the brand, including global," Adweek was told .
Cadillac could make a selection as soon as May.
Sources suggested earlier that the Cadillac business was heading to Campbell Ewald but Cadillac has denied this.
AdAge said executives from Interpublic , Omnicom Group and Publicis Groupe had been in Detroit to be briefed by General Motors about the Cadillac pitch. The key decision makers at Cadillac will include VP-Global Bob Ferguson, Director of Advertising Craig Bierley and VP-Marketing Don Butler.
Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, and lately Audi, are the obvious front-runners in mass-market "luxury", said one commentator. But true luxury cars are seen as the likes of Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati or Lamborghini, costing upwards of $250,000.
At the New York Auto Show Mark Adams Mark Adams, Executive director, of Cadillac Global Design) told an audience ," Cadillac is on a journey. Our trajectory is clear - Cadillac is expanding and elevating as a brand.
"That is precisely the intention of the new CTS: It is ascending into the top-level of midsize luxury… this car is designed to lift Cadillac into a true prestige level."
He said Cadillac had demonstrated its ability to "produce stunning, even provocative designs.
"We've delivered world-class quality, craftsmanship and precision. And we've firmly established our performance credentials.
"The new CTS reaches beyond our previous achievements.It has to grow and expand our appeal... here in North America, and around the world."