通用汽车暂停投放超级碗广告

    短短一周内，通用汽车（General Motors Co.）两度震动全球广告界。先是宣布暂停向当前炙手可热的广告平台——社交网站Facebook投放付费广告。几天后，这家汽车公司又宣布，将不再购买明年的超级碗（Super Bowl）电视转播广告，超级碗可是汽车厂商历来必争之地。天啦，底特律这是怎么啦？

    直截了当的解释是，通用汽车新任全球市场营销负责人乔伊•伊万尼克正在想办法削减广告预算——这家汽车公司每年的全球广告预算估计约47亿美元，笑傲全球。通用汽车当前股价仅为2010年11月IPO价格的三分之二左右，部分原因是由于欧洲金融危机，另外一部分则是因为重组后的公司尚未证明盈利的可持续性。

    2011年通用汽车实现净利润61亿美元，美国政府（持有通用汽车25%股份）批准的一项所得税特别免除政策放大了该公司的利润数据。福特汽车（Ford Motor Co.）和大众汽车（Volkswagen AG）的净利润分别为202亿美元和197亿美元。通用汽车虽然稳稳盈利，但在毛利润率方面排在其他六大全球汽车制造商之后。

    “我不知道所有这些会不会改变金融界的看法，”专业汽车网站Edmunds.com的高级分析师米歇尔•克瑞布斯表示。“通用汽车真正需要的是提高销售额和利润。我还没有真正看到通用汽车拿出了更大的方案来实现这一点。”克瑞布斯尤其质疑通用汽车放弃明年超级碗的决定，因为明年该公司将推出Silverado、Sierra皮卡以及基于这些皮卡系统的大型运动型多功能汽车等新车型。

    加盟通用汽车前，伊万尼克早先曾在现代（Hyundai）大获成功。伊万尼克告诉《华尔街日报》（The Wall Street Journal），他认为超级碗的广告投放仍然有效，但他并不打算每年都出钱购买冠军赛时段。今年30秒的广告时间耗资350万美元；明年同一时段将上涨到380万美元。通常都会有多家汽车厂商购买电视转播的广告时段，专门制作广告，甚至在大赛开始前就已经开始在互联网上广泛流传。

    通用汽车放弃超级碗的举动很是让人吃惊，因为伊万尼克的老东家——现代汽车仍然是超级碗最积极的汽车广告主之一。现代汽车美国子公司的市场营销负责人史蒂文•夏农曾经是通用汽车市场营销高管。【夏农似乎并不讳言，他告诉《美国汽车新闻》（Automotive News），超级碗是现代汽车的一个“完美平台”，并称该赛事是美国“收视率最高”的电视节目。】

    作为2013年超级碗冠军赛的电视转播公司，哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）当然知道今年下半年通用汽车将加大力度，推广新的全尺寸皮卡。这或许有助于解释为何CBS的广告定价如此之高。在通用汽车最重要的市场美国，Silverado、Sierra占通用汽车的利润比重很高。而现代汽车并不生产全尺寸皮卡。

    通用汽车决定暂停Facebook付费广告，这个决定不难做出，也不像放弃超级碗那么关系重大。对于在Facebook首次公开募股之前两天公布这个消息，这家汽车制造商自称，并非刻意为之。当然，通用汽车只要愿意，随时都可以恢复在Facebook上的付费广告，无需像热门电视赛事那样使出浑身解数去争夺有限的时段。

    译者：早稻米

    In the space of a week General Motors Co. shook the global advertising industry -- twice. First, it announced it was halting paid ads on social network Facebook, a still emerging advertising platform. A few days later, the car company said it was also passing on televised commercials for next year's Super Bowl, a bastion of high-spectacle, high-machismo automotive advertising. What in heaven's name is going on in Detroit?

    The straightforward explanation is that GM's (GM) new head of global marketing, Joel Ewanick, is looking for ways to trim the automaker's estimated $4.7 billion global annual advertising budget -- the largest in the world. GM shares are selling at about two-thirds the price of its November 2010 IPO, in part due to financial losses in Europe and partly because the restructured company hasn't yet proven that its earnings are sustainable.

    In 2011 GM earned $6.1 billion in net income, an amount enlarged by a special exemption from income tax granted by the U.S. government, which owns roughly 25% of the automaker. That compared with $20.2 billion in net income by Ford Motor Co. (F) and $19.7 billion by Volkwagen AG. GM, while solidly profitable, trails the other top six global automakers in terms of gross profit margin.

    "I'm not sure all of this will move the needle with the financial community," said Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst for Edmunds.com. "What GM really needs is better sales and profits. I don't really see the bigger plan for how to do that." In particular, Krebs questions the decision to drop the Super Bowl in a year when GM will be introducing its new line of Silverado and Sierra pickup trucks, as well as large sport-utility vehicles based on those pickup architectures.

    Ewanick, who first made his mark with Hyundai before coming to GM, told The Wall Street Journal he thinks the Super Bowl remained effective, though he didn't intend to buy time for the championship every year. A 30-second spot this year cost $3.5 million; next year the same spot will go for $3.8 million. Typically, multiple automakers buy advertising for the broadcast, and the commercials usually are specially produced and circulate widely on the Internet even before the game.

    The move was particularly surprising, since one of the most aggressive automotive advertisers at the Super Bowl remains Hyundai, Ewanick's former employer. The top marketing post at the U.S. subsidiary of the Korean company is occupied by Steven Shannon, a former GM marketing executive. (Shannon seemed only too pleased to tell the Automotive News, that the Super Bowl is a "perfect venue" for Hyundai, lauding the game the as "most watched" show in the U.S.)

    CBS, broadcaster of 2013 championship, surely realizes that GM will be in high marketing mode for its new full-size pickup trucks later this year, which may help to explain why the network has priced the game aggressively. GM's Silverado and Sierra furnish a disproportionate share of profit in the U.S., the automaker's most important market. Hyundai doesn't build full-size pickups.

    GM's decision to drop paid Facebook advertising, which the automaker said was revealed inadvertently two days before Facebook's initial public offering of stock, was an easier call to make and not as critical as cutting back on the Super Bowl. GM of course can resume Facebook paid ads whenever it wants and doesn't have to fight for limited inventory, as it does during a television extravaganza.