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Chevrolet consolidates global ad account into Omnicom and Interpublic joint venture

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

March 28, 2012 | 2 min read

Rival holding companies Omnicom and Interpublic have formed a new joint venture to pick up the Chevrolet global advertising account.

Their new company, Commonwealth, is a 50-50 joint venture comprising Omnicom's San Francisco agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and Interpublic's McCann Erickson Worldwide, based in New York.

Until now, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners has led the Chevrolet creative account in the United States, the brand’s largest market, while McCann Worldwide has been Chevrolet’s agency of record in many global markets, including Mexico, Canada, Brazil, India, Japan, China and Latin America.

Together they will replace the 70 global agencies that previously worked on Chevrolet's global advertising needs.

“This is the first time that two large marketing communications holding companies have come together to form a single company,” said Joel Ewanick, General Motors vice president and global chief marketing officer.

"Commonwealth will be based right here in Detroit, and its only focus will be on strengthening and growing Chevrolet into an iconic global brand."

General Motors said the appointment is part of the company's ongoing effort to "drive efficiencies in its marketing operations and more effectively build its brands around the world".

It recently appointed Carat to handle all its media planning and buying operations.

“These agency consolidations are expected to create about $2 billion in savings over the next five years, with a portion used to take advantage of key global marketing opportunities and strengthen the focus on our global Chevrolet brand, and a portion hitting the bottom line,” Ewanick said.

Commonwealth will be guided by an eight-person 'Global Advisory Board', which will oversee all creative initiatives and strategy for Chevrolet globally.

Assignments will be handled through 'global hubs', which will operate in Detroit, Milan, Mumbai and Sao Paulo, and will ensure consistent global branding across the diversity of local markets.

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