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Chrysler's 2008 Resolution: Grab their customers by their "horns"

PHOTO BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com

"Your business model is only good as your ability to execute," said Chrysler Chairman and CEO Bob Nardelli at the Automotive News World Congress.

 

by Garrett Godwin

ggodwin82@yahoo.com

 

 

DETROIT -- "Do you hear that noise?" asks Deborah Wahl Meyer, who wasn't talking about the air here. She was talking about the noise that marketing will make in 2008: $1.3 billion will be spent in ads for the Olympics; $4.5 billion will be spent for this year's presidential campaign, more than it was four years ago; when as well as if it does happen, $80 million will be spent on the Academy Awards. This leaves a grand total of $294 billion in the advertising market.

Meyer is both the Vice President and Chief Marketing Center of Chrysler LLC, whose main responsibilities include the marketing and advertising initiatives for the Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep brands globally, and overseeing all sales promotions and brand events. She not only hoped to turn up the temperature at the Automotive News World Congress inside the Renaissance at the Mariott in downtown Detroit, but she also hoped that her and Chrysler will get in touch with their audience to buy and sell their products. "The car business isn't that complex if we listen to the customers," she stated.

For instance, there is the formation of the Customer Advisory Board, in which will be used to form a personal relationship between Chrysler representatives and its customers through dialogue and sharing their opinions. When it comes to the automotive business that involves marketing, one must be nimble and quick.

"We're going to prove that we're listening and responding, and we're moving fast," Meyer continues. Next month, there'll be a "New Day Celebration", in which a dozen vehicles such as the 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan will be shown, and it will also involve feedback from the audience such as colors for the car and its interiors.

For years, there have been the traditional, or offline media: first newspaper, then radio, and next television. But now there's the non-traditional, or online media called the Internet: MySpace, YouTube, blogs, and so on. While some believed there's a difference. Meyer disagrees, and plans on changing that. "It's [The media] become a whole set to reach the customers; it's a one-way message," she responds.

Also on the Board of Association for National Advertising, Meyer is both invested and interested in making sure that customers always comes first. However, with people hearing the latest Britney Spears news, the Writers' Strike, Tom Cruise and Scientology, and so on, how can she and Chrysler compete with the public's fascination with the latest Hollywood news and gossip? The answer -- by being focus on their audience and have a personal relationship with them, not to mention being nimble and quick.

Despite being called "crazy" by several people to move here to Detroit from Newport Beach, Florida over four months ago, Deborah Wahl Meyer remains optimistic about the future, because this will be the chance for her to be a part of something historic that will be hard to match. "Am I crazy?" she questions. Her answer, "Not in my mind."

AmericaJR.com's coverage of the 2008 NAIAS is sponsored by The Omni Detroit Hotel at River Place, The Dow Event Center in Saginaw and by RazorGator.com.

 

PHOTO BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com

A Chrysler Town and Country minivan was on display at the 2008 Automotive News World Congress.

 

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This page was last updated on Sun, January 27, 2008 0:50 AM

 

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