General Motors became the second top-25 advertiser this week with news that its advertising budget will come under the knife, joining Anheuser-Busch.
Late Tuesday, GM -- which owns the Chevrolet and Cadillac car makes -- said it will slash sales and marketing expenditures as part of broader cutbacks to deal with a severe sales slump. The automaker is heavily reliant on big vehicles that are out of favor amid soaring gas prices.
GM is the fourth-largest U.S. advertiser with total domestic ad spend of $3 billion in 2007, according to trade newspaper Advertising Age. GM has been gradually cutting marketing for years due to prior financial strains, and it is also a big proponent of moving large slices of its ad spending to new media. Ad Age estimated that its 2007 ad spend was down 8.7% from 2006.
Anheuser-Busch, the No. 22 U.S. advertiser, announced a deal days ago to sell itself to Belgium brewer InBev, which will load up on debt in the transaction, creating pressure for cost cutting.
