• January 16, 2006

A Merrill Lynch report predicts that a new Chevrolet campaign could rev up spending in the auto category, but only temporarily.

The television and print campaign, which highlights Chevy's lower sticker prices--part of a new company-wide General Motors initiative--should boost national category spending initially, but will likely be neutralized as local dealer groups cut marketing, the report said.

The report from Merrill analyst Lauren Rich Fine, who covers the media industry, predicts that a similar pattern will occur to the one that happened last summer--when GM's campaign offering employee pricing caused a near-term jump in national auto ad dollars, but local dealers soon used it as an opportunity to trim their costs.

--David Goetzl