Suzuki Decides to Put Its Ad Account Up for Grabs

Suzuki has hit the road for a new advertising agency.

The Japanese auto maker, which has still not recovered from year-old safety concerns over its Samurai sport utility vehicles, said on Thursday that it was placing its estimated $15 million to $30 million advertising business up for grabs.

Suzuki sales have nose-dived since last June when Consumer Reports harshly condemned the Samurai as being prone to roll-overs and asked for a recall of all Samurai vehicles. The federal government later found that the Samurai was no worse than the average utility vehicle in its class.

Instead of recalling its vehicles, however, the Japanese importer is recalling its Los Angeles ad agency, Keye/Donna/Pearlstein. The agency has created Suzuki ads--such as billboards with the headline, “A Cure for the Car Sick”--since Brea-based American Suzuki Motor Corp. began importing the vehicles into the United States four years ago.

“When Suzuki first entered the U.S, it looked for an ad firm without automotive experience so they could bring a fresh perspective,” said Laura Segal, a spokeswoman for Suzuki. “But Suzuki is changing and expanding its product line, and that may require something different.”

Although Keye/Donna was asked to participate in the review, the agency has not responded to that request. “We want to take a few days to think about it,” said Leonard Pearlstein, president of Keye/Donna/Pearlstein. “I can tell you, we were surprised by their decision.”

It is not all that unusual, however, for troubled businesses to blame their ad agencies for their problems. And Suzuki has plenty of them. Sales of its Samurai dropped nearly 89% in the first quarter of 1989, compared to the first quarter 1988. That’s 1,914 Samurais sold during the period this year, compared to 16,783 during the same period last year.

Several ad industry executives said they now expect that beleaguered Suzuki will name a new agency by mid-summer.

“Suzuki’s problems are much larger than their ad agency,” said Peter Stranger, president of the Los Angeles office of Della Femina, McNamee WCRS, which creates the “Joe Isuzu” ads for American Isuzu Motors Corp. “To punish the ad agency for this is ludicrous.”