Chrysler to Shift Pacifica Message

Joe Eberhardt, Chrysler Group’s new chief marketer, admits the DaimlerChrysler unit stumbled by focusing on ads starring spokesperson Céline Dion.

“I don’t think we should use personality affiliations of any sort to sell product short term,” he said in an interview at the company’s Auburn Hills, Mich., headquarters. “You need to nail the message early on that you want the public to take away.”

Eberhardt said upcoming Pacifica print ads from BBDO, Troy, Mich., will focus on the SUV/minivan’s features rather than Dion.

Chrysler will “accelerate” its original strategy to shift from showing Dion herself to using just her music, after dealer criticism of the campaign that came out of the $10 million-plus deal with the star, he said.

“We have a contractual relationship with Céline Dion, and we have every intention to see that through its final stage,” he said.

Eberhardt, 39, evp of global sales, marketing and service, took over at...