Ford tells agency to stay away from Chrysler’s review

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is forcing London-based advertising giant WPP — a preferred Ford supplier — to withdraw one of its agencies from Chrysler Group’s search for new creative ideas for its fourth-quarter advertising.
WPP’s Grey unit, which Advertising Age this month reported was among a group of shops Chrysler tapped as part of its fast-moving search, was set to pitch Sept. 22 at the automaker’s global headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., executives close to the situation said. Ford‘s admonishment took place late last week, the executives said.

Advertising Age is an affiliate of Automotive News.

That Ford is putting its foot down and barring WPP from pitching a rival automaker’s account isn’t a surprise, especially when considering its history with the holding company and its comparative position to Chrysler.

Ford spent $1.9 billion in 2008 on U.S. advertising and ranks as the 11th largest national advertiser, according to Advertising Age data. It also was alone among Detroit automakers in maneuvering through the industry’s stunning downturn in 2008 and 2009 without taking a U.S. taxpayer bailout.

Ford’s mega agency

To service Ford, WPP operates a shared-services mega-agency for Ford in the U.S. called Team Detroit (known as Blue Team in other parts of the world). In June, Ford added WPP to a list of its preferred global suppliers in a program the automaker started in 2005 to slash the number of suppliers it works with worldwide by half.

By comparison, Chrysler‘s U.S. ad spending was $1.1 billion last year, ranking it as the 36th largest national advertiser, according to Advertising Age data. It has significantly slashed ad spending this year, after emerging from a fast-track, government-led reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, and a takeover of 20 percent of its assets by a group led by Italian automaker Fiat S.p.A.

The automaker’s new-vehicle sales plunged 39 percent in the first nine months of the year to 653,319 units vs. 1 million units during the year-ago period.

WPP CEO Martin Sorrell didn’t respond to a request for comment, while representatives for Grey declined to comment on the matter.

A Ford spokesman said the company considers such a topic an internal matter; a Chrysler spokeswoman also declined to comment.

BBDO working around the clock

After a year marked by slashed fees that prompted hundreds of layoffs at Omnicom Group’s BBDO, Chrysler in late August dealt a major blow to its longtime lead agency by announcing it was reaching out to agencies for ideas on its fourth-quarter advertising.

Executives familiar with the situation said that among the potential outcomes Chrysler is considering are the selection of four separate agencies to handle fourth-quarter advertising, one for each of its brands: Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler and the newly formed Ram truck brand, spun off from Dodge.

BBDO Detroit in Troy, Mich., is the incumbent handling creative duties for the Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler and is working around the clock to defend the account, executives said.

The agencies BBDO is rumored to be up against include Omnicom’s Cutwater, San Francisco, which handled Jeep for almost two years until early 2009; Publicis Groupe’s Publicis & Hal Riney on the west coast; and Crispin Porter & Bogusky, which later this year will officially part ways with carmaker Volkswagen AG.

Ford to introduce 2- and 3-cylinder engines

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. will introduce its smallest turbocharged engine yet next year, and on the horizon are even tinier engines — including two- and three-cylinder versions, the automaker’s powertrain chief said Monday.
Barb Samardzich, Ford vice president of powertrain engineering, said two- and three-cylinder engines and engines with displacements of 1.0 liter or below are possible.

“I think you’ll see all of those things roll out,” Samardzich said. “It’s more than experimental.”

Samardzich wouldn’t talk about a timetable for such small engines or specify in what markets or vehicles they would first appear. But it makes sense that engines of that size would first be introduced in developing markets or in Europe, where small vehicles dominate.

Meanwhile, in 2010 Ford will introduce a new 1.6-liter, four-cylinder engine with its EcoBoost turbocharging and direct-injection technology. The engine will go on sale late next year on the next-generation Ford C-Max, a family of Focus-derived small minivans.

Ford will sell the seven-seat Grand C-Max, the larger of the two body styles, in North America beginning around late 2011. But executives aren’t saying whether the 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine will power the Grand C-Max in North America.

The 1.6-liter EcoBoost is intended to replace naturally aspirated, large I-4 engines. Torque compares with a 2.5-liter I-4, officials said.

When Ford goes to even smaller engines, it will use technologies such as balance shafts to help solve noise and vibration issues, Samardzich said. Those problems are “manageable,” she said.

The smallest EcoBoost engine that Ford has confirmed for North America is a 2.0-liter I-4 that goes on sale in 2010 in undisclosed nameplates. It is intended to replace 3.0-liter V-6 engines.

By 2013, Ford says, it will sell 1.3 million EcoBoost-equipped vehicles per year globally, with up to 750,000 in North America alone. Two-thirds of the volume will come from four-cylinder models.