• Ad Age, Tuesday, February 13, 2007 11:45 AM

General Motors slashed its ad spending by more than $600 million last year, a drop so huge that it should convince doubters that the age of mass-media marketing is going the way of the horse and buggy. While GM disputes the figures from TNS Media Intelligence that show a falloff for the first 11 months of the year, from $2.65 billion in '05 to $2.03 billion in '06 -- claiming it cut measured spending only 10% -- TNS stands by its methodology.

Its numbers mean a cut so dramatic that it would be bigger than the total advertising spending of a Nike or a Volkswagen. But no matter whether the cut was as large as the 23.6% estimated by TNS or closer to the 10% GM claims, the country's second-largest advertiser is clearly shifting toward direct marketing, Web sites, online video, event marketing, branded entertainment and Internet advertising.

All are harder to track than other media channels and that could have major repercussions, not only for old media companies, underscoring their need to accelerate the shift to digital platforms, but also for ad agencies, whose direct and digital siblings increasingly outstrip them in revenue.

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