Chevy account hauls ass from Publicis to Goodby. My reaction from AdAge.
May 27, 2010
I took my Chevy from Maurice Levy…
Last week, Advertising Age asked me about a tweet I’d sent regarding the brazen move of Chevrolet’s advertising account from one agency to another. And so I answered their question for adage.com. It is not an indictment or comparison of either agency. The human behavior is what interests me. Here is the article, verbatim:
A creative director starts at a new agency. He or she can do one of two things: He can spend a few months getting to know the creative department before making any serious personnel decisions or she can get rid of most of the staff in fairly short order. In my role as creative director, I’ve always been the former, which is why, upon reading about Chevrolet’s startlingly abrupt agency change, I was prompted to tweet the following:
Goodby’s a great, great agency but Chevy move seems harsh for incumbents, even by adland standards.
I’m reluctant to say one way of doing things is necessarily right or wrong. That’s why I chose the word harsh. It’s negative but realistic. After all, this is advertising. We’re only as good as our last ad. Client/agency relationships last 10 minutes. And so on.
That said, this action still feels unkind, even vicious. First, the venerable old agency is shown the door (always sad) and then the new one — having surely worked very hard to get in the door — is kicked out of it.
We all know the reason why: There’s a new sheriff in town. It’s a scenario as old as free enterprise. Yet calling the CMO sheriff implies that the agency was the bad guy, and that’s not fair. From all accounts, Publicis worked extremely hard to earn this big piece of business. From all accounts, the new CMO gave two shits. If there is a bad guy — and I’m not sure there is — it’s definitely not the agency.
Sheriff or bad guy, his move was certainly that of a cowboy. America loves cowboys, right? They’re like baseball and Chevrolets! Unfortunately, cowboy decisions can also be rash and reckless, and the human toll severe.
And so will come the layoffs and undeserved misery. Advertising in Detroit has taken it on the chin. Whatever new jobs are created by Goodby in Detroit will most certainly pale in comparison to the many that are lost.
Even though Goodby is a terrific agency, maybe one of the best in America, hiring them like this feels — OK, I’m saying it — wrong.
The Happy Soul Industry
The Last Generation
Gods of Advertising 
I learned a very valuable lesson the second year after starting my first agency.
After a highly successful turnaround of a casual dining/fast food chain (-25% YTD to +25% in les than six months) we were introduced to “A New CMO”.
We worked 24/7 for two months only to have the “New CMO” try to walk with the business AND 200K in bills. We settled at 10¢ n the dollar. The “New CMO” (quotes for irony only) managed to hire her ex-husband, crash the brand, and less than a year later–get fired.
My policy since then has been to have a letter of resignation and a letter of introduction at the first meeting of a new Client lead. It reduces the tension,
prevents waste and leaves the door open for reengagement.
CMO’s bet their future when they start a new position. Change is expected and required in that situation. Their average tenure is just 18 months.
Lets hope this is a positive change for a great American brand, and not the beginning of the end.
Goodby has shown a great sense of relevance in understanding American buyers. As a Chevy guy, I hope they make me crave Chevy like I have almost every other Goodby client.
Good work has a way of protecting itself.
If they’re wrong, like Walmart and other turnover accounts, Publicis should just sit tight.