As much as $550 million in ad spending by Honda dealer associations is up for grabs as the automaker shops for new media agencies to handle the so-called Tier 2 portion of its U.S. media account. At stake are regional ad dollars typically used to promote sales incentives associated with individual dealer efforts, according to Ad Age.
RPA is the agency currently tasked with Honda’s national creative and media business, which includes a portion of Tier 2 media buying. Horizon Media is among other agencies involved in Honda dealer association work. The automaker is undertaking the review to reduce the number of agencies that it currently uses.
Honda Dealer Association ranked at No. 81 among the top 100 radio advertisers of 2020 based on spot volume, in the 110 markets tracked by Media Monitors. By comparison, Honda Dealer Association was No. 24 at broadcast TV and No. 94 at cable TV.
According to Ad Age Datacenter, Honda Motor Co. spent $1.39 billion on U.S. advertising in 2019, including the Honda and Acura brands. But that number doesn’t take into account all of Honda’s dealer association spending that is now up for review. Those dealer association dollars could represent as much as $550 million in spending, Ad Age says, attributing the number to a person familiar with the review.
“We have begun a process to assess which agencies have the capabilities to support our DAAs,” America Honda said in a statement to Ad Age, referring to its dealer ad associations. “The DAAs will then be able to select from this list of agencies. While we are not confirming the overall spend for Tier 2 advertising, we will have more information to share once we have completed the process of assessing the eligible agencies.”