D MAY 22, 2011 BUSINESSc950313.r13.cf2.rackcdn.com/5572359684f3c4c5dea6c6_3.pdfearthquake and tsunami in Japan devastated some manufacturers and parts suppliers in the coun-Dealers

BUSINESSYOU R JOB. YOU R HOM E . YOU R MON E Y.

M AY 22 , 2011BUSINESS EDITOR: BRUCE HAMMOND • 503-221-8525

[email protected]/BUSINESS

BRENT HUNSBERGER

IT ’S ONLY MONEY

D

COMPLAINT DESKHELP FOR FRUSTRATED

CONSUMERS

I t’s about as hard to tie to-gether this column’s offer-ings as it is to recommend LinkedIn stock.

Best I can say is that it’s about consumer protection. Protect-ing you from predatory lending and troubled brokers. Protect-ing the protector from detrac-tors. Protecting IRA holders from double taxation.

Hope you’ll accept my invita-tion to connect.

Vote on new mortgage disclosures

The still germinating federal Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, under attack from the banking industry and Repub-lican lawmakers, managed last week to propose two new mort-gage disclosure forms designed to better inform and protect consumers. Better yet, the bu-reau wants your feedback on which one works best.

Dubbed “Know Before You Owe,” the project offers con-sumers the chance to view and vote on the prototypes at con-sumerfi nance.gov/knowbefo-reyouowe. The bureau wants to consolidate information currently given mortgage bor-rowers in the required Truth in Lending and Good Faith Esti-mate disclosures into a more readable, two-page format.

Last year’s Dodd-Frank fi nan-cial reform package created the bureau and directed it to pro-pose the new forms.

I kinda liked Option A more, but they’re quite similar. Give the site a visit and weigh in. You’ll even be asked to enter notes onto the form you re-jected explaining why those points were confusing or un-helpful.

As you’ll see, the bureau, and Congress, need to hear your voice. …

E veryone makes mis-takes; the question is how much you have to pay for them.

For Teresa Michaelis, it may be $173.12.

The Camas woman was pay-ing bills on Valentine’s Day when she inadvertently sent a payment to her former land-scaper, Sierra NW Landscape Co. Michaelis hadn’t used the Portland business for more than a year, so she said she called the owner after discovering her mis-take and asked for the money back.

“The owner’s comment to me was, ‘What do you want from me?’ ” Michaelis said. The an-swer, simply enough, was her money.

But, as The Desk well knows, nothing is ever simple.

Landscaper Jaime Sierra says he fi gured the money was meant to go toward Michaelis’ outstanding balance of $850.

The back story here is that Si-erra built a pond at the home of Michaelis and her husband, Roger, about two years ago. Halfway through the job, how-ever, the couple told Sierra that they didn’t like what he was do-ing. They had a contract with Si-erra that, Teresa Michaelis says, assured them they’d be happy with the fi nished work.

They weren’t.

Changes afoot on financial oversight

Landscaper keeps check; homeowner feels clipped

Ford

15.4 percent

GM’s Chevrolet

13.9 percent

Toyota

12.6 percent

Honda

9.3 percent

Nissan

7.7 percent

Chrysler’s Dodge

5.2 percent

Who’s in the driver’s seat The “Big 6” automakers’ brands by U.S. market share — in terms of units sold — in April, the most recent data available.

JAMIE FRANCIS/THE OREGONIAN

Shoppers browse the 35 brands on display at the Portland International Auto Show in January. Although folks young and old were out for the event, statistics show buyers have vastly changed their shopping habits. In 2000, about 96 percent of buyers shopped exclusively at dealerships, according to CNW Research. Today, 54 percent stick to dealerships, while 25 percent shop only online for cars and 22 percent do both.

By LAURA GUNDERSON | THE OREGONIAN

TWENTY YEARS AGO when Ron Tonkin starred in his auto commercials, he’d stand on one of his lots amid a sea of cars and invite viewers to come on out for a good deal.

This month, his sons launched an ad campaign featuring zombies. In the three-ad series that fi rst aired, fi ttingly, on Friday the 13th, Brad Tonkin queries a grunting, blood-soaked zombie about what he’s looking for in a car: “So you want the stain-resistant interior?” asks the vice president of the family company. “Of course red is your fa-vorite color.”

“Zombies are like other people, you just got to listen and understand their needs,” he continues. “At Tonkin, we make shopping as easy as possible because we listen.”

The hope is that the walking dead will get younger shoppers to listen.

As auto dealers and manufacturers emerge from some of the most challenging years they’ve faced in decades, they’re taking aim at Generation Y — a prospect that’s harder to pull off than it sounds

but necessary. The group born between the late 1970s and early 2000s is expected to make up 40 percent of the car-buying population by next year. But such shoppers have entirely different habits from their parents and — in Portland in particu-lar — are especially cynical and averse to tradi-tional advertising.

The Tonkin Family of Dealerships’ ads are sim-ilar to a yearlong series of cartoon and live-ac-tion ads Honda unveiled in early May for its Civic models, featuring Aiko the Ninja, Teeny the Mon-ster, Jack the Woodsman, Cesar the Luchador and, yes, Mitch the Zombie. Executives from Honda have said that after two years of researching Gen Y, the manufacturer found a “huge affi nity” for characters ranging from vampires to zombies to monsters.

“Nothing is the way it used to be,” Brad Tonkin said. “We have to really think hard about the way we do anything.”

Auto dealers nationwide have lived their own horror movie in recent years. Dealers have strug-gled through sinking sales during the recession,

SCARING UP GEN Y CAR BUYERSHeard the one about the car salesman who seemed zombielike? Local dealers try new tacks to reach young people

Please see GEN Y, Page D2

Advertising is important to local dealers, especially those looking to draw in the next wave of car buy-ers.

And yet some say they plan on cutting back their ad budgets this summer, mostly because they’re worried they’ll have fewer cars on their lots.

That’s a problem not just for cus-tomers who know exactly the car they want. When inventories are

low, dealers and automakers may cut back on incentive spending, which means that overall prices go up, auto analysts say.

The Port of Portland expects Asian imports, including Toyota and Honda, could slow in com-ing months after the magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami in Japan devastated some manufacturers and parts suppliers in the coun-

Dealers worry about being short of cars

Please see SHORTAGE, Page D2

OnlineWatch a video of reporter Laura Gunderson discussing the Tonkin Family of Dealerships’ new ad campaign, as well as clips from the company’s zombie “fl ash mob” (photo above) and its new commercials, at oregonlive.com/business

By ALLAN BRETTMAN THE OREGONIAN

Maya Moore and the Jordan Brand are about to realize whether one deal will make a dif-ference.

The Jordan Brand, a thriving affi liate of Nike, announced last week that it had signed an en-dorsement deal with Moore, the former Uni-versity of Connecticut star who was the 2011 overall No. 1 draft pick of the Minnesota Lynx of the Women’s National Basketball Association.

Moore is the fi rst woman basketball player to be brought into the Jordan Brand, which

has the recognizable names of the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade and the New York Yan-kees’ Derek Jeter.

Now, just as soccer star Mia Hamm lured American girls to soccer, and to soccer equip-ment, in droves, the Jordan Brand is about to fi nd out whether Moore has the same market-ing impact in basketball. For Hamm, her effect was enough to prompt Nike to name a build-ing after her.

Moore’s credentials are top-notch, having become the first four-time, first-team All-American in college basketball with the Hus-kies. In April, she was named the Naismith College Women’s Player of the Year for the sec-ond time. Her teams won two national titles and set an NCAA record with 90 consecutive

MARK DUNCAN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Connecticut’s Maya Moore drives to the basket during practice last month before a women’s NCAA Final Four semifi nal game. She has signed an endorsement deal with the Jordan Brand, a Nike affi liate.

Please see MONEY, Page D4

Source: National Auto Dealers Association

Please see THE DESK, Page D2

JAMIE FRANCIS/THE OREGONIAN

The Nike affiliate predicts Maya Moore, the No. 1 WNBA draft pick, will help bolster its sales

Please see MOORE, Page D3

Jordan Brand makes play for women’s market

THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN • MAY 22, 2011D2 BUSINESS

Gen Y Continued from Page D1

the near-demise of two do-mestic manufacturers, the red-tape-producing federal Cash for Clunkers program and, following the March tsu-nami in Japan, the anticipa-tion of fewer Asian imports this summer.

The number of dealers dropped by 10 percent in Or-egon and 11 percent in Wash-ington from 2007 to 2010. Some of those gone, or con-solidated, are family names once as familiar in the Port-land area as the Tonkins. Among them, Art Laws closed his 72-year-old Timberline Dodge dealership in late 2009, Joe Khorasani shuttered the last of his fi ve dealerships last year, and Lithia Motors of Ash-land bought the Don Rasmus-sen Group’s four dealerships in April.

Though many big names still exist locally, such as the Lanpheres and the Hannas, the Tonkins say theirs is one of the few dealerships using the family name as its brand. And they’re looking to put a face to that name, even if it means taking a risk.

R/West, the Portland-based advertising fi rm that birthed the popular Trunk Monkey car campaign, pitched the zom-bie idea to the Tonkin brothers early this year. The brothers weren’t immediately sold, but they kept listening. They warmed to the idea, Brad Tonkin said, as talk turned to

Portlanders’ love of the walk-ing dead — the Portland Zom-bie Walk was May 14 — and a lineup of summer blockbust-ers featuring the undead.

“Most auto ads are ex-tremely ineffective because they have salesmen doing them, a salesman who wants to have a commodity conver-sation,” said Sean Blixseth, president and creative director of R/West, which also counts local companies BridgePort Brewing and Burgerville as cli-ents. “But none of us have ever seen a price-and-item ad and got in our car and drove to the dealership.”

Twentysomethings are “cu-rators,” Blixseth said. They’re used to collecting stories, im-ages and videos and tweeting or displaying them on Face-book pages. They trumpet their thoughts in 140-char-acter tweets to the world and announced what they “like” and who they “follow,” and none of those affi nities is eas-ily earned.

“You can’t pound these people into submission with a message,” he said.

Blixseth’s ad campaign launched with two dozen zombies dancing in Pioneer Courthouse Square and ref-erences to PtownZombie.com. There and in a num-ber of clips on YouTube are the Tonkins’ adventures with zombies.

Already, some people have criticized the ads, writing on-line that they felt tricked into watching a commercial. And yet, without running a single paid ad, the event resulted in 1,000 downloads in one day.

“A different vibe” Characters are less cheesy

than a pitchman, and if young shoppers “fi nd” some-thing — say a funny zombie video on YouTube — it may stick with them longer than the memory of the car dealer screaming from atop an el-ephant.

The Lanpheres also evolved from man-on-the-lot ads to a recent cartoon series starring a duck and a beaver. It’s not so ghoulish, appealing both to cartoon-lovers but also older Oregonians with ties to the state’s two main university mascots.

“What’s important to (Gen Y) is not at all what’s impor-tant to my generation or the one underneath mine,” said Richard Lennard, general manager of Lanphere’s Bea-verton Honda, who said hav-ing a 20-year-old son has helped him understand the group a little better.

“Everything has to be non-traditional, with a different vibe to it,” he said. “They’re kind of against what the busi-ness stands for, and it just doesn’t work selling the way we sold cars to past genera-tions.”

About six months ago, Len-nard began assigning one employee to the company’s online and social media cam-

paign for at least a few hours every day.

Local auto dealers said they not only face competi-tion from one another, but also from the thousands of other messages that catch their customers’ attention daily, whether on TV, a com-puter or a smartphone. It’s even tougher when your cus-tomer would rather avoid you: An annual Deloitte sur-vey found that 57 percent of Gen Y car shoppers say they’d prefer to skip face-to-face in-teractions with dealers and negotiate entirely over the Internet.

Perhaps a zombie is more appealing.

“We said to ourselves, ‘It’s crazy enough it just might work,’ ” said Tonkin, whose father is out of town on a cruise through June and hasn’t yet seen, or for that matter heard of, the new campaign.

“Am I concerned about it? Yeah, I am. But if it gets peo-ple’s attention and they like it, or at least laugh, that’s good,” he said. “In due time, when they’re in the market, then maybe they’ll remember that we’re a fun, whimsical or en-joyable place to go.”

•Laura Gunderson: 503-221-8378

[email protected]

Around 1,200 cars were on display at the Portland International Auto Show in January. That’s a lot of selection. To help differentiate their brands and their dealerships local companies are attempting ad campaigns and social media marketing plans aimed at younger buyers.

JAMIE FRANCISTHE OREGONIAN

Shortage Continued from Page D1

try’s northern regions. The Port, the second-larg-

est for incoming autos on the West Coast, continues to see ships carrying post-quake ve-hicle inventory from Japan. But those ships are fi lled with far fewer cars than usual, said Josh Thomas, a Port spokesman.

Before the natural disasters in March, the volume of autos fl oating into the Port last year had improved by 12 percent over 2009. Across the board in 2010, including shipments of autos, containers, grain, and bulks of minerals, liquids and steel, the Port had its third-best year, with 13.1 million total tons of cargo handled.

That growth followed a de-cline of as much as 41 percent in 2009, far from the glory days of 2006 when Portland posted

a record year of 463,557 ve-hicles.

At 264,871 vehicles in 2010, the Port is still far from its fi ve-year average.

That number is important because it’s more than just providing buyers just the right color or leather interior they

want. For every car that rolls off a ship into Portland, the Port estimates, the economic benefi t to the region is around $310.

Subaru-manufacturer Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., which comes through the Port of Vancouver, said this month

that it had resumed pro-duction at all of its Japanese plants, but that it continues to face possible issues with electrical power and consis-tent parts supplies.

On May 11, Toyota’s North American arm said its total North American production should reach 70 percent of normal levels by next month. It was at 30 percent of typical levels early this month. Eight models — Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Highlander, Matrix, Sequoia, Sienna and Venza — are expected to be at 100 percent by next month, Toy-ota said.

Honda’s most recent state-ment on production levels, posted May 2 on its website, said volume will continue at “signifi cantly reduced levels” through the summer. The manufacturer said its goal is to return to normal produc-tion levels by the end of the year.

— Laura Gunderson

U.S. auto sales Year U.S. Oregon Washington 2007 $693 billion $7.9 billion $13.9 billion 2008 $576.1 billion $6.1 billion $11.0 billion 2009 $486.9 billion $4.8 billion $8.9 billion Most recent data available

Q: My husband and I have individual life and disability policies. We have two teen-age children and have had some health issues in the past. I think the life insur-ance is important, but I’m not sure about the disability insurance.

My husband and I have coverage at work, although it would not make us whole if we got disabled. To-gether we make more than $350,000 a year. We have two homes and pay private tuition, so there are a lot of bills to pay. But is the insur-ance worth the money we spend every month?

A: You may have read some scary statistics about the likelihood you’ll face a dis-abling injury or illness. One often-quoted statistic has you facing an 80 percent chance of serious disability, one that would prevent you from working for 90 days or

more, before age 65. But it’s not clear how accu-

rate those statistics are. Last year, columnist Ron Lieber of The New York Times tried to fi nd the facts behind in-surance industry proclama-tions about disability and found little agreement. One source pinned the risk of se-rious disability at closer to 30 percent. If you have a white-collar job, you may well face less risk than someone who does physically dangerous work.

The reason you buy in-surance isn’t to cover likely events, in any case. It’s to cover events that could

have a catastrophic fi nan-cial impact if you didn’t have the policy. That cer-tainly describes most peo-ple’s risk when it comes to disability. The Social Secu-rity system provides lim-ited payments to only the most disabled workers, and workplace policies are often limited and may not cover disabilities that aren’t work-related. An individual dis-ability policy can be a good idea because it provides more coverage.

You can’t expect any dis-ability policy to make you “whole,” however. Many in-surers won’t replace more than about 60 percent of current income because they don’t want to give you an in-centive to fake a disability.

Consider asking an inde-pendent source, such as a fee-only fi nancial planner, to review your workplace disability coverage to see whether you need to hang

on to your individual poli-cies. If the cost of the cover-age is an issue, this planner can help you research your options, such as choosing a longer waiting period be-fore coverage kicks in or lim-iting your benefi t period to three or fi ve years instead of through age 65.

Q: I am confused about how my credit limits and bal-ances are affecting my credit scores. I haven’t paid any interest on my credit cards in more than two years because I always pay off my balance before the due date. Then I figured out that the issuer was report-ing my balance on the last day of the previous month instead of on the due date, so it looked like I was car-rying high balances. So I started paying the balance in full before the first.

The first time I did this, my Experian FICO score

shot up 30 points. But the next month I did the same thing, and it dropped back down. I was told my score was lowered because it “shows no recent balances.” Is this valid? Does it mean I should be paying the bal-ance minus $20 before the first, then pay the rest af-ter the first? This seems like making a system overly complicated.

A: First of all, the credit score you’re monitoring is not a FICO score. Although Ex-perian sells FICO scores to lenders, it sells other scores to consumers. What you’re probably looking at is a PLUS score, which isn’t cur-rently used by lenders. So any gyrations you’re see-ing don’t necessarily refl ect what’s happening with your FICO scores — and your FICO scores are the ones most lenders use. Although you can’t buy a FICO score

for Experian, you can get FICO scores for the other two bureaus at MyFico.com for $19.95 each. Along with the three-digit numbers, you’ll get reasons behind your score and suggestions for improvement.

And paying down a bal-ance before it’s reported to the credit bureaus is one way to improve your FICO scores, since it’s the reported balance that’s used to cal-culate your credit utiliza-tion — an important part of the FICO scoring formula. But you also can improve your credit utilization simply by limiting how much you charge to any card in a given month. A limit of 30 percent is good, and 10 percent is even better.

•Questions for Liz Weston may be sent to 3940 Laurel Canyon, No. 238, Studio City, CA 91604 or via

www.asklizweston.com Distributed by No More Red Inc.

It’s worth checking your options on disability policies

OLIVIA BUCKS/THE OREGONIAN/2009

Though volumes of cars coming into the Port of Portland grew since 2009, the damage to Japanese automakers and parts suppliers from the earthquake and tsunami slowed down that recovery.

“He never billed us the difference because he knew he was wrong,” Roger Michaelis said.

Sierra acknowledged that the couple were un-happy about the pond and had asked him to redo it. He couldn’t, he said, so the Michaelises hired some-one else to complete the project. He said the couple paid him about $3,000 but still owed $850, which they refused to pay given their dissatisfaction. The couple went on to terminate their other contract with Sierra, who also had been doing regular maintenance on their yard.

“I didn’t sue them, but I could have. I had an agree-ment signed by them,” said Sierra, adding that when the recent check arrived, he fi gured it was supposed to go toward the $850.

“Now she wants to col-lect from me? That’s not fair.”

Problems such as these typically can be worked out through the state’s Land-scape Contractors Board (www.oregon.gov/LCB or

503-967-6291). The agency oversees the licensed land-scapers such as Sierra who build walls, water features or install new lawns. That’s why it’s a good idea for consumers to go with li-censed workers to ensure they have an option when things go south.

Keep in mind, the agency doesn’t regulate crews that strictly do maintenance work, such as mowing, weeding and edging.

Much like the state’s Construction Contractors Board, the landscape board accepts complaints and can help consumers work out issues when they hit an impasse with a contractor.

Unfortunately, the Mi-chaelis case is too old: The agency won’t accept com-plaints for work completed more than a year ago. As with other consumer is-sues, the couple have the right to complain to the Oregon (1-877-877-9392) or Washington (1-800-692-5082) attorney general’s of-fi ce.

•

Have a complaint? Contact Laura Gunderson at The Desk: 503-221 8378 or complaintdesk

@oregonian.com Read more at blog.oregonlive.

com/complaintdesk or @thedeskonline on Twitter

The Desk Continued from Page D1

LIZ PULLIAM WESTON

MONEY TALK

Tuesday The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE Oregon): 6-8:30 p.m. “Riding the Next Mobile Wave.” The mobile indus-try has been revolutioniz-ing society. Learn about the next wave of mobile soft-ware technology. Intel, Ron-ler Acres Campus, 2501 N.W. 229th Ave., Hillsboro; online $15 members, $10 student members, $25 guests; $5 more at the door; www.ore-gon.tie.org or 503-266-8677 American Federation of Musicians — Local 99: 6:30-8:30 p.m. “Revenue Sources for Musicians.” Mu-sicians’ Union Local 99, 325 N.E. 20th Ave.; $10 members and students, $20 nonmem-bers; www.afm99.org or 503-235-8791

Wednesday Columbia Corridor Associ-ation: 7:30-9 a.m. “Stormwa-ter Permits Brewing on the Horizon.” A panel of experts from the DEQ, Schwabe Wil-liamson & Wyatt, and GeoDe-sign will explain the Oregon Department of Environmen-tal Quality revised 1200-Z and 1200COLS stormwater permits. Residence Inn by Marriott Portland North Har-bour, 1250 N. Anchor Way; $30 members, $40 non-members; www.columbiacor-ridor.org or 503-287-8686 Oregon City Chamber of Commerce: 7:30 a.m. Good Morning Oregon City hosted by the Providence Willamette Falls Community Center. Providence Willamette Falls Hospital Community Health Education Center, 519 15th St., Oregon City; free; www.oreg-oncity.org or 503-656-1619

Thursday American Council of Engi-neering Companies of Or-egon: 7:30-9:30 a.m. Learn how construction manage-ment, general contractors and other alternative con-tracting methods impact the engineering profession. Da-vid Evans and Associates, 2100 S.W. River Parkway; $50 members/member fi rms, $75 nonmembers; www.acecore-

gon.org or 503-292-2348 Mercy Corps Northwest Workshop: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. “Business Basics for the Small Business Owner.” Mercy Corps Northwest, 43 S.W. Naito Parkway; $75 ad-vance, $85 at the door; www.scorepdx.org or 503-326-5211 Oregon Veteran’s Small Business Government Con-tracting Conference: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. The event is tar-geted to veteran-owned small businesses and businesses owned by service-disabled veterans. Training includes marketing your business to government agencies, how to certify your business is veteran-owned, GSA con-tracting, doing business with the Corps of Engineers, SBA services and programs, and writing a winning pro-posal. Holiday Inn Wilsonville, 25425 S.W. 95th Ave., Wilson-ville; $60; 541-736-1088 Mercy Corps Northwest Seminar: 6-9 p.m. “Time Management.” Learn new skills, tips and strategies to becoming a high performer. Mercy Corps Northwest, 43 S.W. Naito Parkway; $20; www.mercycorpsnw.org or 503-896-5070

Friday Job Finders Support Group: Weekly noon-2 p.m. Fri. Capitol Hill Library, 10723 S.W. Capitol Highway; free; www.jobfi nderssupport.com

TO CONTRIBUTE: Send Business Calendar events no later than 17 days before the event. Submit items to The Oregonian Listings Desk, Newsroom, The Oregonian, 1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland, OR 97201; fax to 503-294-4097; e-mail to [email protected]. Questions: 503-221-8100. Only events sponsored by nonprofi t organizations will be printed. Include sponsor’s name, date, time, address, topic, speaker, fee and contact/registration information. Events must be held in Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas and Clark counties and will be printed on a space-available basis, with those that appeal to the widest audience getting the fi rst consideration.

CALENDAR