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DETROIT -- Land Rover today is expected to confirm that its $50 million U.S. account will be consolidated at Young & Rubicam, sources said.

The shift from GSD&M in Austin, Texas, has been in the works for several months (Adweek, July 1). Y&R handles Land Rover, which is owned by Ford Motor Co., in the rest of the world. The agency's Irvine, Calif., office, where the U.S. Land Rover account will be based, also does work Ford's Lincoln Mercury and Jaguar brands.

GSD&M, which won the Land Rover business in March 2000, will get a 90-day notice and the account will move to Y&R in October. The agency had a "no-cut: clause with the automaker that expired June 30.

Ford bought Land Rover three months after GSD&M won the account, a change agency president Roy Spence said the shop couldn't overcome.

"This decision (to consolidate at Y&R) was especially disappointing since it was made not for cause but rather based on corporate decisions that had nothing to do with the success of our work," Spence said.

Calls to Land Rover and the agencies were not immediately returned.

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Rover Changing Advertising Horses Mid-Stream
DETROIT--Seemingly stuck in a rut, the Land Rover division of Ford's
Premium Automotive Group today is expected today to move it's $50 million
advertising account from GSD&M, Austin to Young & Rubicam, which also handles Ford's
Jaguar and Lincoln-Mercury business.
Land Rover's sales appear healthy in the U.S., having posted a 57-percent
sales increase since last year. But behind the numbers is a disappointing
launch of the Freelander and the fact that Range Rover's sales were depressed
last year as buyers held off waiting for the redesigned 2003 Range Rover.
GSD&M was awarded the Land Rover business in March 2000 following the
firing of longtime agency Grace & Rothchild, N.Y., which had created award-winning
and memorable advertising for the British marques that was imitated by many
other luxury SUV marketers.
Ford executives say Land Rover has been unprofitable since Ford acquired
the company two years ago, and that it will be difficult to turn a profit in
the next year, as well. GSD&M six months ago launched a new ad effort themed
"The Most Well Traveled Vehicles On Earth." It had previously launched a
short-lived, unsuccessful campaign after winning the business, themed, "Courage." A
departure from Land Rover's traditional safari and caviar imagery, one ad
showed a pregnant woman wearing a bikini on a beach.
After many years of enviable clarity in the marketplace, Land Rover's image
has been muddled the last two years. Increasing competition in the premium
SUV segment is giving the brand's current managers worry lines. Expect Y&R's
campaign in the U.K., themed "Beyond" to be adapted for the U.S.
Young & Rubicam handles Land Rover advertising abroad, including in Great
Britain. Mike O'Driscoll, who was just appointed head of PAG's British Group,
which includes Land Rover, Jaguar and Aston Martin, was most recently in
charge of Jaguar, which also uses Y&R. Putting the business with Y&R will also
save Ford money.
GSD&M was named agency for Land Rover while the company was still owned by
BMW. The agency is part of ad agency holding company Omnicom. Ford has all of
its advertising business with Britain-based WPP Group, and doesn't like to
go outside WPP for agency work. GSD&M, though, had a "no-cut clause" that
recently expired.