Automotive giant General Motors is indicating that its advertising spending plan is taking a new direction. But not without getting prodded along the way by black and minority-owned media outlets. Black-owned media companies last month challenged the automaker to spend more with them in a pointed ad campaign of their own.

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With former TV personality Bryon Allen taking the point, the minority media outlets publicly demanded that GM begin to place advertising with them in a way it has traditionally leaned away from.  Allen's Weather Channel and several other media companies challenged GM to put more of its advertising with them. Allen tells the Detroit News, he was joined by other black media company owners demanding that GM to, “Do business with Black America the way Black America does business with you."

GM’s announcement in response indicates it will indeed be spending a lot more money to advertise through the black-owned media outlets. It plans to increase its advertising buys there from the current 2% of its ad budget to as much as 8% by 2025. GM is planning a “Diverse-Owned” media summit the middle of next month to help open new lines of contact and spending with them. GM is also pledging a $50 million dollar commitment to the development of a Diverse Marketing Incubator Fund that will help focus GM’s support of diverse media.

GM’s Global Chief Marketing Officer is Deborah Wahl. She says, “This action plan will transform our engagement model with diverse media in a sustainable way. Over the course of several weeks, we met with many diverse-owned media organizations. We are grateful for the transparency and spirit of collaboration, which helped us frame this inclusive approach.”

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