The moves are understood to be driven by Roel de-Vries, who was
appointed Nissan's corporate VP and global head of marketing, brand
and communications in April. According to executives familiar with
the matter, Mr. de Vries, who's been at the carmaker for several
years, cutting his teeth in Europe and South Africa, is said to be a champion of the
company moving to a less regionally driven and more globally
centralized structure.
"In Omnicom, we have a strong partner and the new,
industry-changing Nissan United structure is a perfect setup to
deliver on our promise of innovation and excitement for everyone,"
said Mr. de Vries in a statement. He added: "Our ranking on both
the 2013 Best Global Green Brands list and this week's newly
announced 2013 Best Global Brand rankings further demonstrates our
momentum in building and maintaining a strong global brand for
Nissan," said de-Vries. "Omnicom has played a huge role in driving
our brand success, and we look forward to even greater progress in
the coming years."
Omnicom is currently awaiting approval of a merger with Publicis
Groupe, which handles work for General Motors. Asked if the new
agency structure would help insultate the Nissan account from any
conflicts, execs did not immediately comment. But in the wake of
the merger, Nissan Americas said it saw no conflict issues. Said
spokesman Dave Reuter at the time: "Renault and Nissan are both
major global clients of both Publicis and Omnicom. We welcome the
direction taken by Publicis and Omnicom to create a best-in-class
communications, advertising, marketing and digital services company
and will continue to work with them during the transition period
and beyond."
Nissan United's Structure
Omnicom Group has named Jon Castle -- who joined TBWA/Chiat/Day
to lead the Nissan/Infiniti account in 2007 -- as president of
Nissan United. Prior to arriving at Omnicom, Mr. Castle worked on
the Volkswagen of North America account at Arnold Worldwide, where
he was on the team that guided the famous "Drivers Wanted"
campaign.
He will be supported by other leaders at Omnicom. "We are
thrilled to extend our partnership with Nissan and remain dedicated
to bringing together the best Omnicom resources around the world to
continue to strengthen the Nissan brand," said Mr. Castle in a
statement.
Sales, Self-Driving Cars
September sales for Nissan North America's Nissan and Infiniti's
divisions sales dropped 6% and 4% respectively, according to
Automotive News Data Center. While Nissan division's sales climbed
10% for the first nine months of 2013, Infiniti's sales over the
same period fell 7%. That tied Infiniti with Volvo for the worst
year-to-date sales drop in 2013. But the company has scored a hit
in the electric sector with its strong-selling Leaf vehicle. The
automaker's CEO, Carlos Ghosn, recently went out on limb by
promising to deliver a range of futuristic, self-driving cars at
affordable prices by 2020.
Meanwhile, Infiniti's luxury competitors continued to grow their
business in 2013. General Motors' Cadillac led the way with a 29%
sales boost through the first nine months of the year. Infiniti's
closest Japanese luxury competitors, Toyota's Lexus, posted a 12%
increase over the same period.
