- Gregory Solman

LOS ANGELES Siltanen & Partners in Marina del Rey, Calif., has been hired by Suzuki to relaunch the Grand Vitara and introduce a new truck through a campaign in the fall, according to Tim Murphy, agency president.

Though Murphy would not disclose the nature of that intro, sources said Siltanen would likely tout the '09 Equator compact pickup.

The work is project based, and DentsuNext in Brea, Calif., remains the client's lead agency, Murphy said.

Officials at Suzuki and Dentsu were not immediately available for comment, and spending on the work awarded to Siltanen could not be determined. All told, Suzuki in recent years has spent about $120 million annually in domestic measured media, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

"It's great to be working with Suzuki and to be recognized by [Suzuki vp, marketing] Gene Brown for our automotive experience," he said.

The move to reach out to another agency comes weeks after chairman Rick Suzuki, the grandson of the company's founder, announced his resignation, and evp, gm Dave Weber, who'd been running the Suzuki business at DentsuNext, left to manage the new dedicated Acura unit at ad agency RPA.

Independent Siltanen has sought an automotive assignment since its launch in January 2000 based on chairman Rob Siltanen's year of experience on Nissan at TBWA\Chiat\Day.

Siltanen stepped up his quest by hiring Murphy in August 2006. Murphy is a former group account director on Toyota at Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi.
 
Within a year of Murphy's arrival, Siltanen landed a major project for Hyundai Motor America while it transitioned between independent Richards Group and its current shop, Omnicom's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. (The resulting campaign helped land Siltanen in the final round of Hyundai's review concluded last April.)

Sales for Brea, Calif.-based Suzuki ended 2007 up 1 percent to 102,000 units; sales are down 5 percent to 26,000 units through March 2008, according to Car Concepts, Thousand Oaks, Calif. Grand Vitara sales are down 26 percent on the year to 3,900 units.