Toyota is nearing the end of a sales and marketing executive overhaul and consolidation of its agency roster in which former marketing boss Scott Thompson has moved to a group sales role and the reign of Publicis Mojo is all but over.
Toyota completed its management restructure in July as part of its executive “rotation policy” in which Thompson is running sales across the group and former Queensland state manager Brad Cramb becomes national divisional manager, marketing. Thompson and Cramb now report to sales and marketing head, Tony Cramb, creating the unusual scenario of two brothers working for the same company in the same function.
But in a big blow for Publicis Mojo, it has lost all its Toyota business – Corolla has moved to Toyota’s sleeper agency, Dentsu, which is clearly starting to flex its muscular connections from Japan, while Saatchi & Saatchi picks up Kluger and 86. It means Dentsu now has all of Toyota’s small car ranges and Saatchi has the rest. Mojo has been retained for “special projects” although that is being seen as a face-saving exercise.
Toyota’s media agency, TMS, is understood to be unaffected with a long-term contract renewed earlier this year and signs in the past six months that it is undertaking more content projects for the carmaker, such as the Megafactories TV episode for National Geographic Channel. Toyota’s retail outfit, Oddfellows, remains on the roster but there is growing speculation that Dentsu is close to a deal to buy Oddfellows and merge it with its current small Australian office.
Interestingly, Lexus, which is run separately to Toyota, does not have a marketing boss and is unlikely to fill the slot until year’s end. The shift of Thompson, a career marketer, into sales is understood to be part of a plan by Toyota to broaden key executive capabilities and reverse a regime under former chairman John Conomos for them to have operational specialists.
“They don’t necessarily want experts who work in particular fields,” said one Toyota observer. “They want experts of Toyota. Every couple of years you’ll end up with 20-30% of people in new roles.”
Toyota is also undertaking a widespread “efficiency” program including marketing and media programs in which budgets are being cut. “It doesn’t make sense to have four or five creative agencies when spending levels are going down,” said one executive.
This article first appeared in the 23 August 2013 edition of AdNews, in print and on iPad. Click here to subscribe for more news, features and opinion.
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