Chevy Agency Merry-Go-Round Continues

20th May 2010

First, Chevrolet took some of the work from Campbell-Ewald, their ad agency for 91 years. Campbell-Ewald was Chevy’s partner for almost their entire existence, and was responsible for memorable ad campaigns such as “See the USA in Your Chevrolet”, “The Heartbeat of America”, “Like a Rock” and “American Revolution”.

Chevy gave the car and crossover work to Publicis late last year. Then, 4 weeks ago, Publicis was given the rest of the Chevy account.

Now, there’s a new sheriff in town, and he likes Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, so they now have the Chevrolet account all to themselves.

Certainly, GM and Chevrolet have the right to change their agency every week if want. But the awarding of multi-million dollar agency contracts shouldn’t be subject to the whim of the executive du jour. It should be based on some criteria that makes business sense. Publicis didn’t have the business long enough to have made any mistakes, and the awarding of the business to Goodby Silverstein and Partners happened too fast after the arrival of Joel Ewanick to have been the result of a true review. In fact, Goodby Silverstein and Partners had the Hyundai business while Ewanick was there. Coincidence? Hardly.

Chevy made the announcement today with the following statement:

All advertising work for the Chevrolet brand in the U.S. has been awarded to Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, moving from Publicis Worldwide and Campbell-Ewald. This transition will begin immediately.

“Based on my personal experience working with Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, I’m confident they have the creativity and ability to take the iconic Chevrolet brand to the next level – and to do it fast,” said Joel Ewanick, vice president, U.S. Marketing.

“Chevrolet is focused on fuel-efficient cars, crossovers and trucks, as well as innovative advanced-technology products like the Volt. With the Volt and the all-new Cruze launching later this year, we look forward to working with Goodby, Silverstein and Partners to build on the momentum that Chevrolet already has going in the market,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. vice president, Chevrolet Marketing.

Goodby, Silverstein and Partners will open an office in Detroit to support the Chevrolet account. The agency worked with GM’s Saturn brand from 2002 until 2007.