Recent interactive work by Starcom MediaVest’s operating group GM Planworks helped the agency last week win General Motors’ $3.2 billion ad buying contract. Interpublic Group’s GM Mediaworks and its 200 employees had been handling the work for the last 10 years.
Contests such as Cadillac Under 5 and promotions like the launch of the Pontiac Solstice on The Apprentice gave GM Planworks an advantage when GM put the account up for review, GM Planworks president Dennis Donlin said.
“The review and the proposal included traditional and non-traditional advertising, and these days you have to look at it that way,” Donlin said. GM Planworks has been handling the automaker’s interactive work since Starcom Mediavest formed the division in 2000.
Calls to GM Mediaworks were not returned.
Cadillac had the two shortest commercials during February’s Super Bowl XXXIX telecast. The five-second spots drew viewers to CadillacUnder5.com to play a sweepstakes of the same name. At the Web site, Cadillac also ran a national contest designed to increase consumer awareness of the brand’s new V-Series, and partnered with the cast of MGM Pictures’ Be Cool to promote it.
GM Planworks also struck gold with The Apprentice, getting the new Pontiac Solstice sports car launched on the April 14 episode. A 60-second spot directed viewers to Pontiac.com/apprentice for a chance to order one of the first 1,000 specially badged cars, which sold in just 41 minutes.
“I cannot comment on any forward thinking, but interactive advertising has been a central strategy of ours for a long time,” Donlin said. “Interactive campaigns are having a bigger play in the overall automotive purchasing decision.”
Betty Lazar, a spokesperson for the automaker, said the transition from GM Mediaworks to GM Planworks will take place in the coming months, and will be completed Oct. 1.
GM R*Works, a division of Interpublic, handles work for most events and sponsorships.
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