General Motors Shifting Half It’s Ad Budget to Digitial Marketing
Last week I got to hear a former General Motors advertising consultant talk about his work with the company about 20 years. He was with them from the late 70s through the late 90s as I recall. He referenced the phrase, “As goes GM, so goes the country.” I hadn’t heard that before but with a quick Google search I discovered this phrase has been around for many years. GM’s influence on our country and economy isn’t nearly as strong as it once was, though I’m sure people would debate me on that. Whether or not it’s true some interesting news today out of GM sparked my curiosity…
According to MediaBuyerPlanner.com, GM is putting $1.5 billion (yes, billion) into digital marketing. That’s half their annual marketing budget. GM is the third largest advertiser in the country so the speculation will begin as to whether this will trickle down to significantly smaller marketing budgets as other companies see what GM does and follow their lead.
My hunch is that many of the smaller marketing budgets are already there. In fact, the smallest of marketing budgets…like people who have about $100 in annual marketing budgets, have been there for a while. In my observation it’s the big companies that are getting on board last. Making the shift to digital marketing at the corporate level, however is still big news and quite bold of GM to shift a full 50% of their budget to a medium that some people still question as a practical advertising platform and marketing channel.
I commend GM for what they’re doing and I’m sure this news has already been passed around marketing departments and advertising agencies all over the country by now. Who knows, maybe that old saying will turn out to be true after all.
Tags: advertising budgets, General Motors, new media marketing, social media marketing, traditional marketing
March 20th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Hi,
I learned of you through the 48 days podcast and thought your interview was very insightful. GM’s move is bold, risky, and brilliant. I believe what you say about traditional advertising being forgetful and untrustworthy, so I’m excited to see how this plays out for GM.
March 21st, 2008 at 4:44 am
This is good news. I have heard of growth at places such as The Cobalt Group, and I know GM is very big on it’s web sites, measurement, and customer connections online. If GM is looking for help in spending it’s budget on Digital Marketing, our firm is in Ann Arbor and would love to help - http://ingenexdigital.com
March 21st, 2008 at 7:19 am
Chuck, thanks for the comment. Given the statistics about what people think about traditional advertising it’s becoming the most logical choice…particularly when the digital marketing is not used with a traditional marketing mindset, rather a mindset that shifts with the new ways to market. My big thing is that content is the new marketing strategy. If GM will get on board with that as they spend their money in digital marketing, it will be a successful shift for them.
Derek, I’m suspect GM has a lot of people looking to get a part of that 1.5 billion dollars. In the meantime you may find this post useful: http://tinyurl.com/2t38y4