Tag Archives: Team Detroit

Report: Ex-GM VP LaNeve takes over Lincoln ad agency

By Jonathon Ramsey

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Those of you that caught yesterday’s op-ed about Lincoln will have heard already, but Mark LaNeve has taken the helm at Team Detroit. Once the North American vice president of sales, service and marketing for General Motors, LaNeve will now head up the agency that handles all of Ford advertising. LaNeve will also run the account for Lincoln. While at GM from 2001 to 2009, the exec oversaw ad campaigns like Cadillac’s Breakthrough and sales initiatives like “Employee Pricing for Everyone.”

He left in 2009 to join Allstate as chief marketing officer, oversaw the creation of the Mayhem ad spots and was moved into the role of VP of agency operations overseeing Allstate’s 10,000 agents. He resigned from the insurer in February 2012 for personal reasons and joined Team Detroit in August 2012 as chief operating officer, in charge of satellite offices in New York and internationally. He replaces ex-CEO Cameron McNaughton, and will continue to hold the title of COO.

Lincoln is trying to get its 2013 back to rights after putting big dollar commercials for the 2013 MKZ on television then having production glitches preventing cars from getting to dealerships. With rumors of a relaunch in the works, it’s no surprise LaNeve has been given the reins – and from here it looks like the brand is desperate for the kind of magic he’s proved he can marshal. Perhaps he can start by calling a mulligan on the renaming exercise that gave us the hoary “Lincoln Motor Company” and go back to oh, say, “Lincoln.” Then he can ask the product folks to get to work on the MKC concept

Ex-GM VP LaNeve takes over Lincoln ad agency originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 10 Apr 2013 18:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Opinion: Lincoln needs a farewell address, not a new marketing plan

By David Kiley

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The trouble with Ford’s Lincoln brand is that no one cares about it any more.

Not long after I heard that Mark LaNeve, chief operating officer of Ford agency Team Detroit, was moving to take over direct operations of the New York ad agency Hudson Rouge for Lincoln, I heard that JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson was ousted. The two events are connected.

There can be all sorts of reasons why LaNeve, former head of sales and marketing at General Motors, is taking over the office that was under the direction of Cameron McNaughton since it was opened last year to serve Lincoln. But the bottom line reason: The plan to save Lincoln is not working.

As I was listening to the discussion about JCPenney’s Johnson and his mistakes, I heard two talking heads discussing it. One said it perfectly: “Johnson’s mistake was not in moving JCPenney to an everyday low-pricing strategy, it was taking the job in the first place. JCPenney has no reason to exist. It’s reason for being is gone. It was once the place where America bought its underwear, but now they buy their underwear all sorts of other places.”

I have been saying for about two years now that the trouble with Ford’s Lincoln brand is that no one cares about it any more. Okay, Lincoln dealers and some current and ex-Ford employees, some of those in the airport livery and hearse businesses care. That’s not a business model, though. Ford is going to try and force Lincoln on China, I hear. The Chinese want Lincoln? I doubt that.

Continue reading Lincoln needs a farewell address, not a new marketing plan

Lincoln needs a farewell address, not a new marketing plan originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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