*With DEI being such a lightning rod in schools of higher learning and corporate America these days, it’s no coincidence America was having this same conversation two decades ago when Mike Jackson was recruited from the beverage industry by Roy Roberts, who at the time was the highest-ranking Black auto executive in the industry.
Jackson, who is currently an advertising professor, oversaw an eye-popping $3.2 billion media budget in North America during his tenure at General Motors, before exiting the industry briefly and then resurfacing a few years later at a startup EV company in a senior leadership role.
The Role of Advertising and Marketing
Advertising and marketing can make or break a company even if the organization is offering subpar products. In the auto industry, we saw this time and time again during Lee Iacocca’s era, when the Chrysler Corporation was designing, promoting, and selling vehicles that were derived from their signature K-car platform.
Having Iacocca, who was a charismatic sales genius as the spokesperson in all the ads, is what kept the company alive. Americans felt compelled to support the company.
Moreover, having the right person at the helm of an organization’s advertising and marketing efforts leads to speaking to diverse communities, too. This is done in the form of securing ad agencies that literally specialize in target marketing while spending money with these communities by way of radio/TV/digital ads, print publications, grassroots events, and the like.
Ironically, when companies don’t focus on being inclusive, and when there is a break in trust with the community that feels neglected, it usually becomes a public relations nightmare. Media mogul Byron Allen is currently headed to trial with McDonald’s for $10 Billion claiming the burger chain did not advertise with Black-owned media.
Allen and others also held General Motors feet to the fire during the George Floyd era, due to disproportionate spending relative to new-vehicle sales. After Allen and other Black media outlets publicly embarrassed General Motors, they eventually pledged to devote more ad dollars to this group.
Black Executives and Auto Advertising
Nevertheless, since Jackson departed from the industry, Black auto executives have made minimal progress, at best, in terms of heading advertising and marketing departments.
Up until a few years ago, a Black woman headed Jeep’s advertising. Currently, Porsche is the only major automaker with a Black female guiding the brand’s advertising department. This appointment occurred during the George Floyd era.
Outside of the car companies noted, for the most part, Black marketing executives in the industry have been relegated to multicultural roles. And, unless an executive has held Jackson’s role at General Motors, they haven’t managed a multi-billion dollar ad budget, the largest in the industry. In North America, most automakers’ ad budgets are a fraction of the Detroit-based automaker.
Mike Jackson Speaks
In a wide-ranging two-part telling conversation, Auto Trends with JeffCars.com, the longest-running and only syndicated multicultural automotive program in North America, talks one-on-one with marketing maven Mike Jackson.
Jackson talks about his career, DEI, the industry, and more through a historical and present-day lens.
How To Tune in on SiriusXM and Free on Other Radio
Show One
The conversation airs Saturday, December 7 thru Thursday, December 12. To hear the program on SiriusXM and other radio outlets, click here.
Show Two
The conversation airs Saturday, December 14 thru Thursday, December 21. To hear the program on SiriusXM and other radio outlets, click here.
About Auto Trends with JeffCars.com
Jeff Fortson is the host and executive producer of Auto Trends with JeffCars.com, the only and longest-running syndicated multicultural automotive program airing throughout the U.S. and Canada. The 30-minute weekly show, which is in its ninth season, airs on SiriusXM 141 and several FM radio dials. The program consists of in-depth one-on-one conversations with many of today’s industry pioneers and influencers, ranging from the ‘Hidden Figure’ and Black female who was responsible for using a mathematical formula to check the accuracy of the GPS (Global Positioning Sensor) to auto analysts to car designers to the trailblazer of LGBTQ auto advertising.
For upcoming shows, car reviews, car-buying tips, recall updates, and a car payment calculator, visit JeffCars.com, his car-buying educational guide. Follow him on Bluesky at JeffCars.
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