• by Karl Greenberg , October 15, 2010

Mazda North American Operations has tapped WPP Group as the source material for a dedicated agency called "Team Mazda," modeled somewhat on Ford's Team Detroit, part of Y&R, itself a WPP division. The new group replaces Mazda's long-time agency, Doner. Team Mazda will be down the road from the automaker's Irvine, Calif. headquarters and will support the automaker's U.S., Canadian and Mexican operations.

The new agency will be led by Managing Director David Latta, former managing director at Team Detroit, and CCO Harvey Marco, former chief creative at JWT's New York office.

Doner, famous for "Zoom Zoom," bowed out with the campaign for the all-new 2011 Mazda2 compact car, an effort that included a branded social game on Facebook, DriverVille with a "Follow Your Inner Driver" theme.

John Abel, Mazda's director of marketing for North America, tells Marketing Daily the company's decision to start fresh was in part driven by the automaker's adoption of a new design language evinced by vehicles coming out in the next year and a half.

"This was really driven by big opportunities ahead in terms of product development," he says, adding that WPP Group offered economies of scale. "More than anything, it was designed to get more strategic, more targeted and more led by analytics and insight, and we felt their capabilities in those regards were second to none.

"No question, we have been having the debate about analytics and insight-driven marketing, and much of the review was about finding a truly integrated solution. Doner had done a great job over 12 years and we have had other agencies involved. This was our attempt to bring it all under one roof."

Abel says that while Mazda might rummage through WPP's roster of 266 agencies on occasion, 90% of the work will be done within the walls of the Team Mazda shop, and the shop will work independently of WPP. "Most of the focus is on what we build in Irvine, and so more than 70% of their team will be full-time in Irvine. We think of this as [WPP's] 267th agency, one dedicated to Mazda, suffused with Mazda culture, and embedded here at Irvine."

The first work from the agency will bow in April, according to Abel. "Good-quality work has a gestation period of six to eighteen months, so we have tried to manage expectations to say if they are live Oct. 6, it will be April before we see new and fresh strategy expressed on air."

Doner is off the account, but its image remains with a forthcoming spot for the CX9 crossover and year-end clearance work in the last two months of 2010. But, says Abel, those will begin to wear Team Mazda's tint, as the agency will have a say in the tone of this year's work.

"My own view is, we have to start to focus on primary brand work and communicating what's different and special about the brand, but how that comes together depends. While we want more of a brand focus that is sometimes best expressed by a vehicle nameplate, I think [Team Mazda's] first work will not be a campaign about the range of Mazda vehicles, but focusing on a nameplate with the spirit of the Mazda brand."