Saatchi & Saatchi Drives Off With More Toyota Business

Oh, what a feeling to advertise Toyota. Just ask executives at the Torrance agency Saatchi & Saatchi DFS/Pacific, which on Thursday won another $20-million chunk of Toyota business.

Its newest client is Southeast Toyota Distributors Inc., of Deerfield Beach, Fla. The group is responsible for Toyota vehicles distributed in five Southern states. Saatchi’s Los Angeles office will open branch offices in Ft. Lauderdale and Atlanta to service the new client.

“There is no better compliment than to be awarded a new piece of business from someone who knows us and our work so well,” Joe Cronin, president of the agency, said in a statement.

Saatchi & Saatchi DFS/Pacific handles the lion’s share of Toyota’s advertising nationwide--affecting more than 500 Toyota dealerships. Besides Toyota’s corporate advertising, it also handles 12 dealership associations and two Toyota distributorships.

In recent months, a growing number of Japanese dealer associations--including Toyota, Nissan and Isuzu--have hired the agencies that also create ads for the auto makers. These auto groups generally say that the corporate agency has a better feel for the company’s image, and the associations can save money by purchasing advertising time and space in bulk.