Wildcard Wednesday . . .

August 23, 2017Uncategorizedgmtartaglia@aol.com

PITCH-A-PALOOZA IS THE NEW NORMAL: Can you remember the good old days of Fall 2015? Everything seemed so quiet and peaceful, and then a monster called Pitch-A-Palooza showed up. In the Oct’15-Mar’16 period 26 national advertisers went through full agency reviews, with the vast majority of those clients eventually changing AORs. Nothing like that had happened before, so it was viewed as a “once in a generation” occurrence. But guess what . . . according to the attached AdWeek link it’s beginning to look like near-constant agency turnover is becoming the new normal. So why are clients changing their agencies more often these days? It’s probably a combination of three things. First, with all the transparency problems related to agencies’ billable services clients are more distrustful then before – and if you don’t trust your agency you’re more likely to find a new one. Second, the pace of digital innovation is speeding up – so clients suffering from FOMO are more likely to be lured to new agencies with shiny new innovation toys. And third, clients are now more likely to bring data and programmatic services in house – and the best way to decide if they should in-house marketing functions is to price/capabilities shop by doing an agency review. Regardless of the reason, the acceleration of agency turnover is creating chaos for agencies and their media partners who must to react to this constantly changing landscape.

COULD JEEP BE GOING BEHIND THE GREAT WALL?: If you’re familiar with the Auto sector you know that FCA (the parent company which owns Fiat, Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler) has been passed around like a joint over the last 20 years with numerous buyouts, mergers, etc.. Now there’s word of a potential new suitor which could add another chapter to this saga. This time it’s Great Wall Motor Co. (yes, they’re a real Chinese OEM), who’s showing interest in buying Jeep from FCA. There’s no doubt about the value of Jeep as a global brand. In fact, there’s a consensus in the financial markets that Jeep as a stand-alone entity is worth about 20% more than when it’s embedded in the entire FCA family. So would FCA spin off Jeep to Great Wall at a nice premium and then shut down the rest of the brands? It’s a crazy idea to consider given that Dodge and Chrysler are such legacy brands in the US. But the same could have been said for Pontiac, Saab and Oldsmobile a few years back, and you don’t see those guys around anymore. AutoNews.com has a solid write up of the current situation, and the prospects of Great Wall actually being able to pull off a Jeep acquisition.

A TOTAL ROYALTIES ECLIPSE: Just went you thought eclipse-mania was gone for another 50 years comes one more obscure fact. It turns out that one song above all others was really popular on Monday. Of course I’m talking about Bonnie’s Tyler’s 80’s hit Total Eclipse of the Heart. According to the attached Forbes link the song had a one-day surge on platforms like YouTube and Pandora. In fact, the play stats in the chart below map exactly to the peak eclipse-viewing time. Beyond the novelty of the song with this astronomical occurrence, this example demonstrates the power of music to bond us during collective experiences like what happened on Monday. So who’s working on a song for Leap Day 2020?!?