62.4 F
Laguna Hills
Monday, Mar 18, 2024
-Advertisement-

Casanova Pendrill Extends Win Streak With Chevy

One of Orange County’s largest advertising agencies added one of the largest accounts in its history last week.

Costa Mesa-based Casanova Pendrill Inc. was named agency of record for the Latino-American market for General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet brand.

“It’s a big win for us,” said Ingrid Otero-Smart, president and chief executive of Casanova Pendrill. “I can’t talk numbers, but it will be big.”

New York-based industry tracker Kantar Media said Chevrolet’s media-buying budget for the domestic Latino-American market was more than $63 million through September 2013. It spent $601 million on general market ad placements during the same period.

“That is probably one of the biggest Hispanic market budgets,” said Ken Muench, former director of strategic planning at Draftfcb who recently moved on to co-found Santa Ana-based Collider LLC. “The agency fee is probably anywhere from $4 million to $8 million.”

Casanova Pendrill beat out four-year incumbent LatinWorks in Austin, Texas, in a pitch at the end of last year.

The Chevrolet account will be serviced primarily from Costa Mesa, with additional support staff working from Detroit, Ingrid-Otero said. The agency will handle strategic planning and creative development for all Chevrolet brands.

Hispanic Audiences

“Connecting with Hispanic audiences in a meaningful way is critical to Chevrolet,” Paul Edwards, Chevrolet’s vice president of marketing for U.S., said to Advertising Age in a statement. “We welcome Casanova Pendrill to the Chevrolet team and we look forward to working with them to build on Chevrolet’s strong product momentum among Hispanic consumers.”

Casanova Pendrill has already formed a Chevy team in Costa Mesa. It now is looking to fill about a dozen other positions on various accounts, mostly “account people, a planner and creatives,” Ingrid-Otero said.

The account “means a lot to the agency,” she said. “It’s a game changer, and coming on the heels of our 2013 wins … it’s proof of our momentum.”

Clients

Casanova Pendrill added Latino-American ad duties for a number of accounts last year, including the U.S. Postal Service account in April; American Frozen Food Institute in May; MillerCoors’ Miller Lite brand in June; and Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. in the third quarter of last year. The ad shop also partnered with sister agency McCann Erickson in New York in April to launch McCann HumanCareHSP, which specializes in Latino consumer healthcare marketing. The consortium has secured work from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. in East Hanover, N.J.

The agency’s client roster also includes the U.S. Army, the California Lottery, Kohl’s, Nestle, Intuit’s TurboTax, General Mills, UNICEF and Denny’s Corp. Casanova Pendrill reported $250 million in capitalized billings for 2012. It has 75 employees between its Costa Mesa and New York offices.

Casanova Pendrill is a unit of New York-based McCann under the umbrella of Interpublic Group of Cos.

Commonwealth, also owned by McCann, is Chevrolet’s global agency of record.

Chevrolet sold 1.95 million vehicles in the U.S. last year, a 5% year-to-year increase.

“The Hispanic market is very important to Chevrolet, particularly in select states,” Maria Rohrer, director of marketing and strategy for Chevrolet trucks, told Latino-American marketing and media news outlet Portada in October. “We are trying to engage the Latino consumer authentically. We are integrating with key Latino passion points to become more relevant to buyers.”

Want more from the best local business newspaper in the country?

Sign-up for our FREE Daily eNews update to get the latest Orange County news delivered right to your inbox!

-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-