AdAge.com reports while in bankruptcy General Motors will be spending $40 million to $50 million per month in advertising—the same dollars-per-vehicle rate as before it filed for Chapter 11.
The numbers come from GM VP/Sales, Service and Marketing for North America Mark LaNeve, who answered queries sent by AdAge via e-mail to John McElroy’s “Autoline After Hours,” a weekly live web cast show that featured LaNeve as a guest.
From the story: “He said the government’s auto task force never prescribed an ad budget for GM during the expected 60 to 90 days the company will be in Chapter 11 before the “new” GM exits bankruptcy court. He also said that before the task force approved GM’s proposed ad budget, it did its “due diligence,” asking the car marketer how much it spent per vehicle on ads. It also sought data on competitive ad spending, such as how much Mercedes-Benz spent vs. GM’s Cadillac brand. Chrysler had a very different experience with the task force. Testimony in Chrysler’s case, filed April 30, revealed that the task force cut the automaker’s proposed ad spending basically in half, to just $67 million, during its planned nine weeks in bankruptcy.”
RBR/TVBR observation: This is at least stable news for radio, television and cable, assuming GM keeps its dollars placed similarly as it did pre-bankruptcy. Yes, we know the ad dollars have been down dramatically, but let’s face it, the bankruptcy court and government auto task force could have slashed and burned all ad spend, as some had speculated. We’d like to say it can only go up from here, as car unit sales can hopefully only go up!
