LexFather

Mazda Looks Past Doner, Hires Pile for Review

The nameplate spent $155 mil. last year in measured media

March 3, 2010

- Andrew McMains and David Gianatasio

Mazda is preparing to reach out to agencies as it looks beyond lead shop Doner for input on its advertising account, sources said.

The nameplate has tapped Pile + Co. in Boston to spearhead a review for some or all of its business handled by the Southfield, Mich.-based independent, per sources.

A Mazda representative declined comment, and executives at Doner and Pile + Co. either could not be reached or declined comment.

The client spent close to $155 million on domestic ads last year, up from $140 million in '08, per Nielsen.

In terms of creative approach, Mazda is best know for the signature "Zoom, Zoom" line that is whispered, sung or spoken in much of its advertising.

Doner added the business in 1997, and Mazda stands as the agency's showpiece account.

Doner works on both creative and media chores (mainly spot buys in recent years), while WPP Group's Mindshare handles most national buys. Ford has long held minority ownership in Mazda, but has decreased its stake in recent years. WPP agencies handle most Ford and Ford-related brands, with Mazda and Volvo being the main exceptions. (Volvo uses Arnold and Nitro as its lead shops.)

It could not immediately be determined if Mindshare's portion of the account is up for grabs.

Propelling the review to some extent, per sources, is likely the recent change of leadership at Doner and the departure of former CCO John DeCerchio. That 34-year veteran of the shop held a 32 percent stake in the ad firm and he was closely associated with Mazda's "Zoom, Zoom" campaign. The agency's split with DeCerchio came amid much acrimony, as he alleged he was due a $55 million payout over 10 years, not the $51.5 million the agency believed he was owed.

The matter was resolved before Doner made a major ownership shift late last year, with longtime CEO Alan Kalter selling his stake to three other senior execs: David DeMuth, Rob Strasberg and Tim Blett. The purchase price was not disclosed.

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_dis...beacf428f9590b

IS-SV

Better than those lame VW commercials of the last decade. What's the latest crap, Punch a Dub or is that smoke a doobie, best to just switch channels.

jadu

iTrader: (42)

zoom zoom is so 7 years ago

I really dont like the look of their new gen of cars

I8ABMR

I like it but something modern wouldnt be bad either.

I8ABMR

not feeling the smile. It looks so lame. It ruins the look of the car for me. I like a sporty look not the happy look

bagwell

sad part is the 3 is the most decent looking mazda IMO.

mmarshall

Agree. They need to dump the childish and corny "Zoom-Zoom" stuff, which is like a 5-year old kid with a toy race car, and get back to some classy lines like the "Kansei Engineering" ads of the 1980s. They not only made for nice ads, but actually, with a lot of truth, described the cars themselves that Mazda produced at that time. I owned some Mazda products myself during the mid-80s-early 90's.

spwolf

i like zoom zoom, but is Mazda really zoom zoom? And how many cars they want to sell? With zoom zoom, not many.

mmarshall

Except for the obvious success of the Miata, which no one can argue with, Mazda, IMO, started to go downhill when Ford started calling many of the design/marketing shots....which was around 1990 or so. The company was never really the same after that. Many of their products became either rebadged Fords or done on Ford platforms.

jadu

iTrader: (42)

The ford duratecs in the previous gen (when zoom zoom first came out) were fairly reliable, and the ford fusion, which was the old mazda6 chassis is doing very well for itself. It wasn't until mazda started making the next gens bigger fatter, heavier, bigger smiley bumpers did the zoom zoom go away, at least for the 6 that is..

mmarshall

The Fusion, while an excellent family sedan, at its best as a Hybrid, was never really meant to be a semi-sport sedan like the older Mazda 626, which was known, despite its FWD, as the "Poor Man's BMW". The later Mazda6 sedan suffered from cost-cutting and a cheaper interior (the latest Mazda6, IMO, is even worse), although the limited-production turbo AWD Mazdaspeed6 was an interesting product.


Mazda never really made that many "zoom-zoom" cars to start with, acceleration-wise, except maybe for a few limited-production turbo models here and there, and the early-1990's twin-turbo RX-7....which was fast and super-agile, but suffered from many lightweight aluminum, easily-damaged chassis parts. The Mazda idea of "zoom-zoom", in general, always seemed to be nimble handling and good steering response. That is why it developed a reputation as a lower-priced alternative to BMW. And back in the 1980's, their "Kansai" engineering produced chassis/steering characteristics that were, IMO, superb.

muhbuhtuh

i liked the zoom zoom ads.. but its starting to get old

TRDFantasy

I always hated the "Zoom Zoom" marketing campaign, I found to be very annoying from day one. I can't wait for Mazda to get rid of it for something else.