Birmingham Boutique Boasts Million Dollar Bra

Story first reported from Detroit Free Press

It's bling meets bra -- and a million-dollar marketing campaign.

Birmingham Estate and Jewelry Buyers is selling a very mentionable unmentionable made of gold and diamonds for $1 million. It's constructed of 18-karat white and rose gold and white, orange, brown, green, pink and yellow diamonds.

Since the Woodward Avenue store unveiled it last month, owner Anthony Aubrey has sold one, though a slightly cheaper model made with black diamonds for $350,000, custom-made in the buyer's wife's size. While the bra is for sale -- to be worn or displayed as art -- it's also doubling as a marketing tool.

According to Aubrey, who has turned down offers for the bra from jewelers in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Brazil, his store traffic has jumped 20%.

Aubrey got the idea for the bijoux bra by simply looking around his store. It then took him three months to sketch the design and almost a year, working with 40 artisans, to craft the eye-opener.

With the economy still recovering, Aubrey said he needed something to do with all of the diamonds he had around the store, and the bra was the unique piece he dreamed up.

Aubrey said his bra is better than the gold-and-diamond one made famous by Victoria's Secret, because the lingerie chain's version is held together with fabric.

His karats-meets-cups creation is all metal, 750 grams for the deluxe model; each diamond is in its own setting, which is then wired together, like mesh.

The bra has been worn by models, and it is said to be rather comfortable.

But it's not necessarily the sort of bra that should be burned.

J. Cherie Strachan, director of Central Michigan University's women and gender studies program said she is offended by the bra, which she says clearly shows a gross objectification of women.

Aubrey dismissed concerns that people living in still-recovering Michigan might not want to see this kind of gilded ribcage topper, saying that his high-end jewelry store is just the place for such an item.

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Art Van Grows, Hires Doner

Story first reported from Detroit Free Press

Art Van Furniture, Michigan's largest home furniture retailer, is moving its big advertising and marketing account to Southfield-based Doner, as Art Van prepares to launch a major growth push into Ohio and the Chicago market.

"We're looking for Doner to take us to a place that most furniture retailers haven't been ... We believe they would be a breath of fresh air for us," Art Van Elslander, founder and chairman of the 53-year-old furniture chain, told me Friday.

He cited Doner's recent work on Fiat 500 ads featuring Charlie Sheen and Jennifer Lopez as the kind of attention-grabbing spots that can help draw customers to a new brand, which Art Van will soon be to shoppers in Chicago.

Art Van and Doner will formally announce their tie-up later this week. Doner, a 75-year-old agency with 560 people, replaces a smaller Southfield agency, Sussman Sikes & Associates, which has had the account since 2009.

Art Van, based in Warren, operates 34 furniture stores and six PureSleep bedding stores in Michigan, but hasn't ventured out-of-state -- until now.

Van Elslander said the firm is building a 100,000-square-foot superstore on a 10-acre site off I-475 near Toledo, and is looking seriously at six to eight locations for a push into the Chicago area, where he said there is no dominant competitor. Smaller furniture chains in the Chicago area, such as Wickes, Levitz and Plunkett, have gone out of business in recent years.

For Doner, the Art Van account is a big step in strengthening connections with the agency's hometown. Doner made a name for itself as an independent Detroit-based agency not completely reliant on the auto industry, and won national acclaim for work on non-local brands such as Mazda cars and Serta mattresses.

David DeMuth and Rob Strasberg, co-CEOs of Doner, said that three years ago, Doner's longtime pro bono work for the Detroit Zoo was its only major local client relationship.

That changed after Doner lost the Mazda account in 2010, which was 20% of its business after a long run with the "Zoom Zoom" campaigns. Doner quickly picked up a new automotive client by snagging Chrysler's "tier-two" work on dealer ads and sale events -- then parlayed that into the nod as the agency for the Fiat 500 launch, a product of the Chrysler-Fiat marriage.

Art Van, a private company, doesn't reveal specific numbers for the tens of millions of dollars it spends on TV and print advertising. But it does brag in employment ads for salespeople about having "great customer traffic driven by Michigan's No. 1 advertising spend."

"We believe the best client relationships are when advertising is mission-critical to business," DeMuth said, "because that creates urgency and focus from the very highest levels of the company. And Art Van is clearly that kind of business."

The delicate part of Doner's task in tweaking Art Van's image will be trying to elevate the perception of the product range as stylish and sophisticated, without abandoning the emphasis on value and blowout sales that made Art Van the 800-pound gorilla of Michigan furniture retailing.

"We've got a reputation for value, quality and customer satisfaction," Van Elslander said. "We could use a little help in our message about style and fashion." He said his target buyer is female, age 30-54.

"There are still going to be lots of sales and some heavy-duty retail massaging," said Strasberg, "but it will be wrapped in a nice package."

Doner's work for Art Van will start appearing in a couple months, but the first major campaign will break around November, the Doner executives said.

Van Elslander mentioned that one of the unusual ads he liked recently was Chrysler's 2-minute "Halftime in America" Super Bowl ad starring Clint Eastwood, which was done by the Wieden + Kennedy agency.

Doner's aim will obviously be to deliver memorable advertising spots for Art Van. But maybe we shouldn't hold our breaths waiting to see Clint lounging on a plush sofa, brandishing a TV remote and growling at the TV, "Come on, make my day!"

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Ford bets big in Digital Marketing Departure

Reuters

Forget the Super Bowl: Ford's marketing chief Jim Farley says he can get more for less on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

If Farley is right, millions of hits for Ford Motor Company on social media websites will dwarf the impact of ads broadcast during the National Football League's February championship game -- high-profile space selling for $3 million for 30 seconds.

"Customers are spending as much time with the mobile smart phone or online as they are watching TV now, so our advertising dollars have to flow to where the people are," Farley told Reuters in an interview.

Under Farley, 48, who joined Ford from Toyota Motor Co in 2007, the No. 2 U.S. automaker has bet bigger on the emerging category of digital advertising including websites and social media than any of its rivals.

Farley has taken the approach credited with the early success of the youth-oriented Scion brand he launched at Toyota and applied it to the makeover of an established auto brand.

He is betting Ford can use Facebook and Twitter to accelerate the word-of-mouth recommendations long familiar to the auto industry and help the blue-oval brand connect with younger and richer people.

Farley said he learned at Scion that the only way to push past consumer skepticism is "to break into their world."

"You have to shove your way in there. The way we do that is to break down myths. The great thing about Americans is they are always hungry for something new," he said.

Ford's U.S. sales are up almost 22 percent so far this year, twice the growth rate of the industry overall.

Farley's term at Ford has coincided with a sharp turnaround in its image. ALG, a firm that tracks consumer perceptions, said in a report issued on Monday that Ford cars and trucks lead all brands in gains in perceived quality since 2008.

FORD SEEKS FACEBOOK FRIENDS

Farley, who is seen as a potential successor to Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally, called the Super Bowl, "a fantastic advertising opportunity" -- for unknown brands.

"If you are a company that wants to launch a new product that no one has ever seen before, it's a great venue."

Under Farley, Ford has spent 25 percent of its advertising budget on digital media in 2010, the same proportion as in 2009. That ratio is twice what J.D. Power and Associates says will be the average digital media spend in 2012.

Farley would not disclose the dollar amount of that spending.

One of the first experiments in Ford's new approach was its 2009 move to recruit Web-based "agents" who would help promote its launch of the Fiesta subcompact. In a follow-up, Ford used Facebook to reveal key aspects of the Explorer SUV rather than wait for an established auto show.

Now, Ford is seeking "bloggers, social media mavens and Facebook friends" to submit video applications to be one of 100 who will drive the 2012 Focus around southern France or Spain early next year, ahead of the car's launch.

The effort, called "Ford Focus Global Test Drive" seeks to create buzz ahead of the launch of a vehicle central to Mulally's vision for a streamlined product lineup.

Farley said that the Fiesta campaign had boosted consumer awareness of the Ford subcompact over direct competitors like the Honda Fit or the Toyota Yaris. At the same time, Ford only spent one tenth of what it would have through traditional media, including television, he said.

Farley's moves mark something of a contrast with the approach by cross-town rival General Motors Co.

Under its new marketing chief Joel Ewanick, GM is pushing back into advertising at the kinds of high-profile, high-cost events like the Super Bowl that it had abandoned in its slide toward bankruptcy.

In one example, last week GM rolled out a campaign for Chevrolet that plays to its base -- patriotic Americans with memories of the days when Chevy dominated.

By contrast, Ford is playing up the new elements in its product line-up, both new vehicles and new technology like the MyFord Touch system for navigation, entertainment and communications in campaigns that include videos for Google's YouTube.

Charlie Vogelheim, executive editor of Intellichoice, a consumer auto consultant, said Ford had pushed beyond its rivals in the way that it is building online buzz.

"Everyone is involved in digital marketing. The extent that Ford is doing it, wrapping it around events and utilizing the media with its launches, that is where Ford is taking leadership," he said.

Cruze Ads are Ready; Chevy aims to show Quality Compact

The Detroit Free Press

Chevrolet will launch advertising for the Cruze next week, as the mainstream brand seeks to convince customers it can make a high-quality compact sedan.

Cruzes will begin arriving at dealerships in mid-September. Chevrolet is targeting the car at 20-somethings and empty-nesters ages 45 to 65, seeking to lure small-car buyers who have flocked to vehicles like the Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla and shunned offerings from GM.

The Cruze marketing campaign, titled "Accolades," will highlight vehicle features being touted by General Motors and will emphasize how people outside the company view the car, said Margaret Brooks, marketing director for Chevrolet small cars, at a media event in Birmingham on Tuesday.

GM is also giving the Cruze its own marketing tagline, although Brooks declined to give more specifics about the advertising or the slogan.

Chevrolet, whose last tagline was American Revolution, has been looking for a replacement since July 2009.

In the Cruze advertising, GM may focus on key features such as the 36-m.p.g.-highway rating the standard version of the Cruze recently received, the car's 500-mile range in highway driving or its 10 standard airbags.

"You're probably not going to do it with a car that's 'As good as.' You've got to have a car that's better," said Chuck Russell, GM's vehicle line director for global compact cars.

GM is asking dealers to buy competing vehicles for their showrooms to allow customers to do side-by-side comparisons with the Cruze, Brooks said.

GM has also touted the value of the base-model Cruze, which starts at $16,995 with shipping, over base models of competing vehicles. For instance, the 2010 Civic starts at $16,405 with shipping, but lacks features such as the standard air-conditioning, power locks and keyless entry found in the Cruze.

In addition, GM said, Cruze customers with an OnStar subscription will be able to use one of OnStar's new smartphone apps to check their fuel range, oil life and tire pressure or remotely start or unlock the Cruze or honk its horn. OnStar is free for the first six months.

Chevy Breaks from Longtime Ad Firm Campbell-Ewald

The Detroit Free Press

Move is latest creative shift for automakers

In another painful blow to Detroit's advertising community, Chevrolet is ending its 90-year relationship with Campbell-Ewald, the agency that drummed "See the USA in Your Chevrolet," "Baseball, Hotdogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet" and "Like a Rock" into the national consciousness.

Chevrolet is shifting its truck advertising to Publicis Groupe offices in Dallas and Seattle four months after that agency took over the account for Chevy's passenger cars and crossover vehicles. Chevrolet's creative account is estimated at $30 million a year, according to trade publication AdWeek.

"This is a big deal, another cultural shift for this town that's been rocked by a number of them over the last five years," said Peter DeLorenzo, a former Campbell-Ewald creative director and founder of Autoextremist.com.

Earlier this year, Chrysler ended a 65-year relationship with Troy-based BBDO as part of a strategy to choose separate agencies for its four brands.

"This was the knockout punch," said Mike Bernacchi, a University of Detroit Mercy marketing professor. "It goes to prove that it's a business, period. Relationships today unfortunately don't mean that much."

Jim Campbell, Chevrolet marketing vice president and no relation to the agency's founder, issued a statement thanking Campbell-Ewald for "their many years of dedicated and loyal service."

Bill Ludwig, Campbell-Ewald CEO, said the agency will continue to diversify its portfolio, 75% of which comes from clients other than Chevrolet.

Among those clients are GM's OnStar, Ghirardelli chocolates, Minneapolis-based Medtronic, Kaiser Permanente, a major health insurance company on the West Coast, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Wyndham Worldwide hotel and resort operator.

Campbell-Ewald has about 1,100 employees working in Warren, Los Angeles and San Antonio. A company spokeswoman said it was too soon to know how many jobs might be lost as a result of the Chevrolet decision.

Less than a year after their historic bankruptcy restructurings, General Motors and Chrysler have reached out to new agencies to reinvigorate brands that suffered through the uncertainty and shrinking market share that was part of their reinvention.

In January, Cadillac selected Bartle Bogle Hegarty of New York and London to succeed Modernista, a Boston-based shop that took over the account in 2006. Chrysler selected Fallon of Minneapolis to craft ads for the Chrysler brand and Portland-based Wieden and Kennedy to resuscitate Dodge's brand image.

Whether agencies from outside Detroit can change perceptions of domestic carmakers remains to be seen.

"Clients inevitably get the advertising they deserve," said Autoextremist's DeLorenzo. "It's only as smart and visionary as they are able to muster. It's easy to find fault with the agency, but it's much harder for any company to transform itself."