• Automotive News, Thursday, July 30, 2009 10:45 AM

As hard as his recent comments about some of General Motors' advertising may have been, marketing chief Bob Lutz says he has no plans to review or fire any agencies in the short term. But the leash is short: he wants public perception of GM to start changing within three to six months.

"If, after strong senior management direction, the agency, for some reason, repeatedly fails to come up with a product where the customer says, 'Yes! That's exactly what I want' and fails to move the needle, then obviously you start reviewing the agency," Lutz says.

Lutz has asked several agencies for creative ideas and is meeting with some this week. He has asked them to come up with a message that ensures that the car is the "hero." Lutz also says that the creative process too often occurs from the bottom up and resembles a "sausage machine." If there's one thing that he's made clear, it's that senior management will be involved from the beginning of the process at GM.

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