DETROIT: Oxford Automotive, a $1 billion-in-annual-sales supplier to the auto industry, has hired Franco Public Relations for a wide range of PR services that includes strategic counseling, internal communications, media relations, and financial communications.
The agency is also redesigning the company's website.
The agency has put four people on the account, including Franco president Maria Leonhauser Rosenau, who is leading the team. Spending will not be disclosed.
Oxford is what is known in the auto world as a tier-one supplier, meaning it deals directly with the automakers rather than with other industry suppliers.
The company makes welded metal assemblies for automakers, things such as auto body undercarriages.
Tier-one suppliers have been under increasing pressure from automakers to hold down costs in recent years.
"A lot of these tier-one suppliers are struggling, and the jump in steel prices has not helped them at all," Rosenau explained.
Oxford will be opening a new plant in Alabama next month. The agency will handle PR revolving around that opening. It also will work on financial communications involving Oxford bonds.
While not a public company, Oxford does have bondholders who must be communicated with, she explained.
