In this issue's report on broadcast producers, we hear a little about how the head of production at BBDO's Detroit operation PentaMark will handle the huge DaimlerChrysler account which recently parked its fleet in the agency's driveway. Despite the account win, the agency was one of the many which has lately had to face staff cuts to deal with a real or perceived business challenge of 2001. In many cases the changes have been due to account losses; in PentaMark's case, streamlining was done to handle an account win.

The PentaMark reorganization very much reflects the fortunes of the agency's client. DaimlerChrysler had announced at the end of January it would lay off 26,000 of its own staff and slow production in a number of North American plants to address its financial challenges (there was even talk of a Daimler/Chrysler decoupling). Further reorientations would be announced at DaimlerChrysler's meeting in Stuttgart, taking place as we go to press.

If you employ the old saw about party A sneezing and Party B catching a cold (in this case Party A and Party B are advertiser/agency, respectively, but the germy metaphor works for various other scenarios like USA/Canada), does this mean the production community should be reaching for the Kleenex?

Well, the parties involved in the Chrysler case proclaimed a commitment to the quality of the advertising, but also admitted there will be more to be done with less money. "It's going to get even tougher from a dollar perspective to make the ads we've been making," said Hugh Broder of his challenge as PentaMark's head of production. Bud Liebler, outgoing senior VP worldwide marketing for the Chrysler Group (Liebler was departing Chrysler at press time and was rumored to be going to the Ford side. Chrysler's new marketing honcho was unavailable for comment) says the automaker's marketing budgets will be down 10 percent from last year. "It says you have to be smarter about how you go about placing your advertising," says Liebler, who admits to having a stone in his shoe lately about the costs of network TV. As part of its strategy, Chrysler has launched a sales push, instituting incentive programs which are being supported in part by a new TV campaign. But what about all that great Jeep advertising? Liebler says the company will be true to Jeep and its other brand ads. "When we did the PentaMark [consolidation] we said there were a couple of things we were demanding -- first was completely separate creative teams. We want the brands to keep their personalities. The consolidation we did was more in the back-office stuffÉwhere it shows in the advertising we did not consolidate," he says, pointing out the fact that Jeep went from being just about the only SUV when Chrysler acquired AMC 10 years ago to sharing the market today with over 40 grocery-getter name plates.

The company will support the new Jeep Liberty in June followed by a campaign for the new Dodge truck. Another possible upside: Liebler also hints at the possibility of a nice new corporate campaign.

So it seems some mucousy discharge is in the cards across the industry. But perhaps pneumonia will be avoided.

Teressa Iezzi

Editor