GM agency review fallout—winners, losers and what’s next

One of the biggest agency reviews of the year wrapped up last week when General Motors shook up its roster, bringing in a whole new lineup of creative shops while consolidating CRM with Omnicom. The automaker’s move to align with multiple shops—including giving major assignments to two independents—runs counter to what has played out with so many big reviews in recent years, in which clients have sought bespoke solutions within a single holding company. Nearly every big holding company had a stake in GM’s decision. And while no single holding company took home everything, there were still some big winners—and losers—with plenty of fallout still to come. Below, an early read on who did well and who did not—plus what to look for as GM begins working with its new agency partners. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Winners Stagwell: GM had conversations with at least 16 creative agencies during the creative review, ultimately picking four. Stagwelll got half of those wins with Anomaly leading Chevrolet and 72andSunny taking Cadillac. While the agencies pitched individually, the wins are a boon for Stagwell, lending momentum to two of its biggest agency brands. Although 72andSunny has worked on auto brands such as Audi and Infiniti through its various offices over the years, Cadillac gives the shop the chance to work on one of the most iconic names in all of automotive. The appointment comes at a crucial time for Cadillac, which is trying to achieve a long-term goal of going all-electric even as EV demand softens. “We love Cadillac’s vision and big ambition, and we’re ready to win together,” 72andSunny President Marianne Malina said in a statement. With Chevrolet, Anomaly takes on a brand steeped in American tradition—an experience the shop is familiar with having worked on Budweiser in the past. Chevy is expected to be among Anomaly’s largest clients and its arrival comes at a good time, as the shop continues to recover from losing its Dunkin’ account in 2023. Chevy is GM’s biggest spending brand, shelling out $544 million in U.S. measured media in 2023, followed by GMC ($329 million), Buick ($126 million) and Cadillac ($113 million), according to Vivvix, including paid social data from Pathmatics. Also read: Behind Chevy’s new tagline Independent agencies: Through its choices, GM signaled that it values the thinking of the indies—with two of the four winners not tied to holding companies. Also read: IPG explores sale of R/GA Mother won Buick, giving it a brand that has been on the upswing lately as it continues to shed its image as a vehicle mostly for old people. “We shared a similar energy, ambition and collaborative spirit with the Buick team,” Mother said in a statement. “Together we hope to create a fresh and vibrant platform, for a fast-growing brand that operates by a different marketing playbook and exudes a deserved confidence in their vehicles.” Also read: Behind Buick’s new tagline and design philosophy Preacher, the 10-year-old Austin, Texas-based independent, gets a serious jolt winning GMC, which is GM’s second-biggest spending brand by measured media. The shop had already been enjoying good momentum, earning Standout status on Ad Age’s 2024 Agency A-List after big 2023 wins that included Foot Locker. Also read: Inside 4-day workweeks at independent agencies S4 Capital (Media.Monks): Martin Sorrell is no stranger to the automotive business, having run WPP when Ford was a major client. Now his 6-year-old S4 Capital is getting a boost from another Detroit automaker, with its Media.Monks getting a plum assignment to create customized content at scale for all of GM’s brands, including through the use of AI. “We have the ability with their technology to be much more customized,” General Motors Global Chief Transformation Officer Molly Peck told Ad Age last week. It is a big win for S4 Capital on multiple levels, likely exceeding what Sorrell defines as a “whopper client”—those worth $20 million or more. It also validates Media.Monks’s investment in building out its AI-powered content and production studio called Studio.Monks. For years Sorrell has talked about the importance of agencies being able to provide hyper-personalized content at scale. Last week, Media.Monks launched a model that is meant to put Adobe’s generative AI offering, GenStudio, at the core of the content supply chain solution it can offer brands. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Dentsu: The holding company did not win any new business, but it managed to stave off what could have been a huge loss, with Dentsu-owned Carat keeping lead media agency duties. Media was never officially in review, but GM did hire MediaLink to take a look at its media model. While GM will look to bring some media duties in-house, Peck on Friday told Ad Age that “we’re very happy with Dentsu as our lead media agency.” Shenan Reed, formerly the senior VP and head of media for L’Oréal, joined GM in Jan. 22 in the newly created role of global chief media officer. It’s worth watching what changes GM might make to its media strategy as she continues to settle into the role. Omnicom: The CRM win for the holding company adds to recent momentum in the automotive business. Omnicom’s PHD recently retained Volkswagen Group’s media account following a lengthy review, and it also came out top in BMW’s creative, digital, CRM and social media review late last year.The GM win belongs to Omnicom’s Precision Marketing discipline, which represented $1.47 billion or 10% of Omnicom’s worldwide revenue in 2023. Precision Marketing Group services include digital and direct marketing, digital transformation consulting, e-commerce operations, media execution, market intelligence and data and analytics. Its Precision Marketing discipline now includes Flywheel Digital, a digital commerce business that Omnicom bought in January. For GM, the unit will be charged with leveraging the automaker’s “significant database of customer records,” Peck indicated. Losers Detroit agencies: GM is taking some local criticism on social media for moving away from a couple of Detroit-based agencies—Motor City-based incumbents Commonwealth/McCann and Leo Burnett Detroit will see their scopes significantly reduced (more specifically on them below). “And very quietly, just like that, an entire creative industry was decimated in #Detroit,” wrote one Detroit-based observer, Lianne Lyne, on LinkedIn in a post that drew many comments from sympathizers. But the scope of the employment effect remains undetermined. It remains unclear if any of the creative agencies hired by GM will open offices in Detroit, which would theoretically make up for some of the losses. Omnicom’s Precision Marketing plans to service the CRM account from Detroit, according to a representative. Also, GM seems determined to boost its internal marketing talent, as it looks to move more functions in-house, which could also provide significant numbers of new local jobs. Peck suggested that GM would be looking to bolster roles related to account services and strategy. One of the new roles is director of creative excellence, which was recently filled by Conner Huber, who had been head of marketing for GM Energy and previously worked at multiple ad agencies, according to her LinkedIn. She will report to Peck with duties including overseeing creative briefs and metrics. To be sure, Detroit still has agencies in good standing with automakers: Stagwell’s Doner has long been a go-to agency for Stellantis and Lafayette American has done work for Ford and Mazda, while also growing its client portfolio beyond automotive. Interpublic Group: The holding company must regroup after losing lead creative duties on Chevy (Commonwealth/McCann) and failing to retain any CRM business—its MRM was a significant incumbent. Even with the losses, GM remains McCann Worldgroup’s largest client, group CEO Daryl Lee stated in an internal note to employees, noting that McCann remains as the GM corporate agency and “we retain all our work in all global markets, in multicultural, and non-vehicle brands.” Also, “MRM remains GM’s most significant agency partner based on our scopes across web, digital, data and analytics,” he stated. Publicis: The holding company not only lost lead creative on Cadillac, Buick and GMC (Leo Burnett Detroit), but it failed to make up for those losses by adding any other business; Publicis was said to be pitching CRM. The losses raise questions about the fate of Leo Burnett’s Detroit office. “Leo Burnett will continue to have some business,” Peck told Ad Age last week, including global work and work related to customer care and aftersales. Publicis declined to comment. Contributing: Bradley Johnson

GM agency review fallout—winners, losers and what’s next

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