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GM consolidated its estimated $3.2 billion planning and buying account at one agency two months ago to create efficiencies and structure in two areas that were less than optimal - local broadcast buying and new media - the auto giant’s director of media operations, Betsy Lazar, told Mediaweek.
With a local buying unit that services over 7,000 local dealers, involving thousands of local broadcast buys a quarter, the company had too many touchpoints with the dealers and the process wasn’t streamlined before the planning and buying account was consolidated, she said.
And the new media space has been growing so quickly that the company found it had too much overlap between the planning units and buying units. Again, the problem centered around local issues. As local TV is venturing into new areas of interactivity, and local dealers want to be involved in that space, local marketing groups found themselves dealing with planning people at Planworks, buyers at LCI, and client service people at Mediaworks. They began asking, “What happened to the old days when I just had my media person take care of me?” Lazar said.
The consolidation will also form a more direct link between local and national buying.
The company’s media mix will continue to shift from broadcast TV to new media and Olympic sponsorship, with video on demand becoming a mature part of the mix in 18 to 24 months, Lazar predicts.
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