THE MARKETING MIRACLE OF CHRYSLER: HOW A NEW “PARTNERSHIP” PHILOSOPHY HELPED RESSURRECT A DYING GIANT

Abstract

The economic pundits had all but signed Chrysler's death certificate when Lee Iacocca took the reins of this floundering cor‐porate giant in 1979. Now, with Chrysler's $1.2 billion in government‐backed loans paid back seven years ahead of schedule and an antici‐pated profit for 1983 estimated at well over $550 million, Leo‐Arthur Kelmenson, President and CEO of Kenyon & Eckhardt, Inc., Chrysler's prin‐cipal advertising agency during its critical sur‐vival years, 1979–82, describes the events which took Chrysler from the brink of extinction to its current position of strength. In analyzing the reasons for this extraordinary turnaround, Mr. Kelmenson focuses on the marketing strategies and advertising campaigns that both served the automaker's day‐to‐day fight for survival and, simultaneously, laid the ground for a long‐term image change for Chrysler products.

Citation

Kelmenson, L. (1984), "THE MARKETING MIRACLE OF CHRYSLER: HOW A NEW “PARTNERSHIP” PHILOSOPHY HELPED RESSURRECT A DYING GIANT", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 15-27. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb008091