As reported in Ad Age on March 11:
General Motors Corp., the nation's second-largest advertiser in 2004, has put into review its $3.5 billion national and regional dealer group media-buying account, according to the company
As reported in Business Week on March 15:
Advertising Conglomerate Interpublic Group of Cos. said on Tuesday that it would defend its General Motors account, a day after the company's stock price fell sharply on reports that GM would put its media buying account up for review.
As reported in the Times on March 17
General Motors' stock fell to its lowest level in more than a decade Wednesday after the company said it expected to post a loss of nearly $1 billion for the last six months. The news set off G.M.'s largest single-day share loss since the market collapse of 1987 and further darkened Wall Street assessments of the company, the world's largest automaker.
At what point does someone wake up and take responsibility for mediocre product; mediocre advertising; mediocre organizational embrace of change etc.?
The domino effect of Wall Street - Corporate America - Marketing - Advertising - Advertising Agency seems a little too linear and oversimplified to me.
Where does the buck stop? Is it at bad product or bad advertising? As capitalists, we no doubt are subservient to the not-so-mighty dollar, but at what point do we take a step back and realize that this is not a binary world existing of 1's and 0's. We don't program consumers like machines. This is not the matrix.
For every action (hey, check out our new car), there is not an equal, nor is there an opposite reaction (sure I'll buy one...hey if I buy 3, do I get a discount?)
I'll be coming back to the ripple effects of shifting $3+ billion dollars shortly, but for now I just wonder who - and at what point - is prepared to take responisibility.
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