17431: How Omnicom Lost Its Car Keys To Acura.

 

Advertising Age spotlighted the latest escapade at Omnicom involving collateral damage from the acquisition of IPG, whereby the Acura creative account drove away from Omnicom and parked at independent White advertising agency RPA.

 

MullenLowe, formerly within the former IPG, had serviced Acura since 2013. The conflict pileup began when MullenLowe was absorbed by TBWA, the latter being a longtime partner of Nissan.

 

Omnicom sought to remedy matters via Corporate Cultural Collusion, offering other White advertising agencies like Deutsch. Acura wound up accelerating toward RPA, which has worked on parent brand Honda since 1987, and had already been handling Acura media duties since 2017.

 

Ad Age made no mention of the Omnicom drones who suddenly find themselves without a ride and may be forced to seek employment as Uber drivers.

 

How Omnicom tried—and failed—to keep hold of the Acura creative account

 

By Ewan Larkin

 

American Honda Motor Co. has moved Acura’s creative business to RPA, a longtime agency for the Honda brand and its media partner for both Honda and Acura, without a formal review.

 

The shift came after Omnicom couldn’t figure out where to park Acura within its expanded creative agency lineup. MullenLowe, which was part of Interpublic Group of Cos., had held the Acura creative account since 2013. After Omnicom acquired IPG in November, the holding company ran into an issue with MullenLowe’s creative relationship with the Honda-owned car brand.

 

Omnicom couldn’t place the Acura business with TBWA, which absorbed MullenLowe in the deal, because of that agency’s relationship with Nissan, which presented a conflict, according to people familiar with the matter. TBWA\Chiat\Day has worked with Nissan since it won the creative account in 1987, and that relationship has evolved into Nissan United, Omnicom’s bespoke creative and media team for the brand.

 

The situation follows the collapse of merger talks between Honda and Nissan in February 2025.

 

Instead, Omnicom proposed placing the account under IPG creative agency Deutsch, which has experience in the automotive sector from its time on the Volkswagen U.S. creative account, according to people close to the situation.

 

American Honda confirmed it had moved the Acura creative account to RPA, but pushed back on the idea that the shift stemmed from Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG.

 

“American Honda made a strategic decision to consolidate creative work for both the Honda and Acura brands within a single agency to better align with business objectives,” American Honda said in a statement to Ad Age. “Effective April 1, 2026, creative work will be led by our longstanding agency partner, RPA—which is already managing media buying for both brands.”

 

Asked about potential conflicts with Nissan and Omnicom’s plan to place the business with Deutsch, American Honda stated: “We would ask that you talk to Omnicom about its internal strategies.”

 

The auto company also thanked MullenLowe for its tenure: “We extend our sincere appreciation to the entire team at MullenLowe for 12 years of creative partnership and valuable contributions to the success of the Acura brand.”

 

The shift means Omnicom will move forward without an account MullenLowe had held since 2013, when Honda split its agency roster, keeping RPA on Honda creative but moving Acura creative to MullenLowe and media for both brands to MediaVest (now Spark Foundry). RPA took back media duties for both brands in 2017.

 

Omnicom, Nissan and RPA declined to comment on the account move. Deutsch deferred calls to comment to Honda.

 

Acura spent $128 million on U.S. measured media in 2025, down from $152 million in 2024, according to MediaRadar. The brand recently reported its best first-quarter performance in four years, with deliveries rising 5.2%.

 

Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG, which closed in November, has necessitated some reshuffling of accounts. For instance, McCann, not FCB (which has been folded into BBDO), is now leading the Kimberly-Clark Co. business.

 

Marketers don’t seem to be as concerned about conflicts these days—Omnicom itself works with a spate of automotive brands—but the Acura account move serves as a reminder that sensitivities still exist.

 

“Conflict is an ongoing challenge for clients and agencies,” said Greg Paull, president of global growth for consultancy Mediasense, adding that as holding companies have leaned harder into integrated services, managing those conflicts has only gotten harder.

 

When Omnicom announced its plan to acquire IPG, Chairman and CEO John Wren downplayed conflict concerns. “I’m not aware or threatened by any conflict as a result of us announcing that we’re joining forces,” he said on a December 2024 call with investors. He went on to acknowledge that some clients may ultimately move their business elsewhere because of the deal, which created the world’s largest agency company by revenue when it closed last year.

 

“Could it happen? Yes. Will it happen? Yes,” Wren previously said. “But I think people will be short-sighted in doing that.”

16899: Honda + Nissan + Omnicom + IPG = OMFG FUBAR.

 

Advertising Age spotlighted the planned merger starring Honda and Nissan, with the former to lead on the road ahead.

 

For Adland, the Japanese automakers’ union could create a horrendous car wreck.

 

The Honda US advertising account is driven by RPA, a White advertising agency founded in 1986 during the creation of Omnicom. When Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) and Needham Harper Worldwide became DDB Needham in that merger, a conflict arose because the former serviced Volkswagen while the latter handled Honda. Leaders at Needham Harper Worldwide’s Los Angeles office went rogue, quickly forming RPA and taking the Honda business as its foundational account.

 

The Nissan US advertising account is with Omnicom, which constructed a coalition of shops called Nissan United in 2013.

 

So, the Honda-Nissan merger could impact the Omnicom-IPG merger.

 

Will Omnicom ultimately regain Honda, growing the revenue collected from Nissan? Or will RPA pick up Nissan billings, adding to the Honda pot of gold? Which White enterprise will lose a showcase client? And where does IPG—already affected by the General Motors and Stellantis maneuvers—fit in the impending collision?

 

One thing is certain: Lots of adpeople will lose their livelihoods—with zero say in the matter and/or no blame for the inevitable chaos.

 

Oh, and non-White advertising agencies will be powerless pawns, pulverized patsies, and pitiful peons in the political pileup.

 

Honda, Nissan To Merge By Summer 2026

 

Japan’s second- and third-largest auto players to join forces with Honda in the driver’s seat

 

By Hans Greimel

 

Honda and Nissan plan to merge under a holding company with the top executives chosen by Honda in a historic reshuffling of Japan’s auto industry meant to keep the country’s second- and third-largest players competitive amid a global onslaught of new competitors and technologies.

 

Mitsubishi Motors, partly owned by Nissan, will decide by the end of January whether to join the new partnership.

 

The CEOs of all three companies announced the new framework at an afternoon news conference on Dec. 23 in Tokyo, with Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe in the center, flanked by his counterparts. The companies said they will now negotiate details.

 

“We have the potential to be a world-class, leading company in new mobility,” Mibe said. “By 2030, we need the artillery to compete on the battlefield. So, we are starting today.”

 

Honda, Japan’s No. 2 automaker, and Nissan aim to finalize an agreement by next June and establish the holding company by August 2026. They plan to take the new entity public around that time, pending investor approval at extraordinary shareholder meetings planned for around April 2026.

 

Both Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. will be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange and will become subsidiaries of the new holding company.

 

Honda is expected to nominate the majority of directors and the president of the new company. The final share transfer ratio will be decided later and be based upon share prices, among other factors. Still undecided is the name and headquarters of the new holding company.

 

In the U.S., Nissan has long used Omnicom for creative and media under a multi-agency set-up called Nissan United. Nissan-owned Infiniti uses Publicis Groupe for global creative. RPA handles Honda’s advertising in the U.S.

 

Nissan is the world’s 60th-largest global ad spender, while Honda ranks 63rd, [according] to the Ad Age Datacenter.

 

Nissan is undergoing marketing leadership changes, with Allyson Witherspoon in November taking on the U.S. chief marketing officer role. Witherspoon, who held the position less than two years ago, retained her current role as corporate VP of global marketing, brand and merchandising for Nissan Motor Co.

 

Mibe pitched the agreement as a way to sharpen the companies’ competitive edge on everything from production and vehicle R&D to sales financing, electrification and software development.

 

The combined operations won’t be a quick fix, Mibe cautioned. The first outcomes will start to manifest only before the end of the decade, with the big payoffs coming after 2030.

 

A combined Honda and Nissan will be able to generate annual revenue exceeding ¥30 trillion ($181.84 billion) and operating profit exceeding ¥3 trillion ($19.18 billion), the companies predicted.

 

Mibe said the new combination was not a bailout of Nissan. Rather, he said, Nissan and Honda will be expected to stabilize their own businesses before joining hands.

 

Embattled Nissan, fighting long-term sales decline, massive debt and crumbling profits, launched a revival plan in November that slashes global capacity and cuts 9,000 jobs worldwide.

 

Any finalized deal will hinge on Nissan getting its house in order first, Mibe said.

In the meantime, Honda is initiating large buybacks of its own stock to bolster its share price, Mibe said. Honda wants to buy back up to 20% of its outstanding. Honda is acting now before regulatory restrictions on buybacks take effect during merger talks.

 

“It’s not going to stay like [it] is today forever,” Mibe said.

 

The long-term goal is not downsizing and rationalizing operations but rather growth and bigger scale, he added. As an example of a potential impact on the U.S. market, Mibe dangled the possibility of delivering a hybrid pickup truck, leveraging Honda’s strength in gasoline-electric powertrains and Nissan’s experience in body-on-frame trucks.

 

“We aren’t thinking about just carving out, carving out, carving out and leaving only the good parts,” Mibe said. “We want to think about options that lead us to bigger scale.”

 

Mibe and his Nissan counterpart Makoto Uchida said Honda will take the lead in setting up the holding company because its market capital is bigger than Nissan’s. Before news of the talks broke this month, Nissan’s share price had tumbled 35% this year, as the company struggled with a litany of financial problems including a net loss in the latest quarter.

 

“We will definitely be able to address all the challenges ahead and deliver significant new value that we have never seen in the past,” Uchida said. “We will be among the top class.”

 

The Dec. 23 agreement builds upon a looser technology and purchasing partnership the companies began exploring in March. At that time, Honda and Nissan said they would explore teaming up on electric vehicles, automotive software, batteries, procurement and more. Mitsubishi joined those talks in August.

 

“Without the courage to transform, we will be unable to continue,” Uchida said. “If we can enter discussions with speed, even against the many emerging players, we can become a winner.”

 

Combining would give the automakers bigger scale to drive down costs and share the R&D burden for new technologies in an industry under siege by change.

 

But it also would create a complicated overlap in Japanese production facilities, key markets, management and product segments. Moreover, cross-holdings could entangle the companies in a knotty shareholder web with existing Nissan partners Renault and Mitsubishi.

 

Even after the tie-up, Honda is expected to continue its project-based cooperation with General Motors on the side, and Nissan will be able to continue its own with Renault, Mibe said.

 

Last year, Nissan emerged from two decades as the junior partner in its alliance with Renault, after both companies agreed to rebalance their cross-holdings. Each will have a 15% stake in the other after Renault sells down the balance of its 43% stake that is held in a trust.

 

As part of its own restructuring and revival plans, Nissan is meanwhile selling down its controlling 34% stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp. that it acquired in 2016.

 

Mitsubishi CEO Takao Kato said his company would examine the holding company and possibly join. Mitsubishi brings strengths in Southeast Asia, plug-in hybrids and pickup truck platforms.

 

“We see it as a positive move,” Kato said. “It is extremely difficult to afford all the investment and engineering resources alone.”

 

The biggest potential positive of integrating Honda and Nissan would be huge scale. Though both companies have dialed down forecasts, Nissan plans to sell 3.4 million vehicles in the fiscal year ending March 31. Honda plans to sell 3.8 million vehicles.

 

Synergies could be spread across the companies’ combined sales of about 7.2 million vehicles. Mitsubishi would chip in another 895,000 deliveries, bringing total sales to more than 8 million.

 

Toyota Motor Corp., by contrast, sold a record 11.09 million vehicles in the fiscal year ended March 31, solidifying its place as the world’s No. 1. And that total doesn’t count volume from its constellation of capital cross-holding partners, including Subaru, Mazda, Suzuki and Isuzu.

 

While scale and joint savings hold plenty of potential, execution will be the real test.

“On paper, many proposed mergers look great,” S&P Global Associate Director Stephanie Brinley wrote in an analysis. But there are many unanswered questions, she added.

 

Among them is how to support Nissan’s restructuring so it does not weigh down the team. Another issue would be how to handle their overlapping premium brands—Acura and Infiniti. How they jumpstart their imploding businesses in China will also be a critical challenge.

 

Both companies have already begun developing their next-generation EV platforms and technologies for the latter 2020s. Integrating them could force more difficult choices.

Then, there is the thorny issue of meshing corporate cultures.

 

“Merging Nissan and Honda creates scale, but accessing cost benefits from that scale is also a long-range process which can be costly in the short term,” Brinley wrote. “Finding meaningful and sustainable synergies in the product portfolio, in product development and in manufacturing is where many mergers stumble and fail to live up to the potential.”

 

Hans Greimel is a reporter for Automotive News

 

Ad Age News Editor E.J. Schultz contributed to this story

16639: Nissan Driven To New Multicultural Agency.

 

Advertising Age reported on Nissan and Infiniti shifting its non-White marketing duties to a new multicultural agency—sans a formal review.

 

Third Ear—formerly known as LatinWorks—replaced fluent360, who had serviced the Nissan brand for 15 years. Both shops are minority-owned by Omnicom, so the move is likely another example of Corporate Cultural Collusion orchestrated by the White holding company. Omnicom is adept at shuffling accounts between White advertising agencies in its network, so it’s not surprising the company would do likewise with non-White firms.

 

The Ad Age headline for the report read: Nissan And Infiniti Make Multicultural Agency Change—What It Means For Black And Hispanic Advertising. Um, it means non-White shops 49%-owned by White holding companies can expect to stay in segregated silos, collect crumbs, and get shifted/shafted at the “minority” owners’ whim.

 

Nissan And Infiniti Make Multicultural Agency Change—What It Means For Black And Hispanic Advertising

 

Behind the ‘identities-led’ approach of Third Ear, which replaces Fluent360 on the accounts

 

By E.J. Schultz

 

When luxury automaker Infiniti begins advertising its redesigned QX80 premium SUV next month, it will move beyond its marketing comfort zone. Pricing for the vehicle tops $100,000. But rather than targeting households with incomes of at least $100,000, like it normally would do, it lowered the threshold for its media plan to $75,000.

 

The change was spurred by advice from Infiniti’s new multicultural agency, Third Ear, which has also begun working on sibling brand Nissan.

 

“They came to us and said, you’re gonna miss the mark if you set your household incomes too high because these audiences will do whatever they can to get the kind of vehicles that they want. And so don’t let that hold you back,” said Shelley Pratt, director of marketing communications and media for Infiniti USA.

 

The approach is a preview of what’s to come from Austin, Texas-based Third Ear, which focuses on subtleties within multicultural communities that it believes can make a big difference when it comes to branding.

 

Third Ear, which is 49% owned by Omnicom, won the Nissan and Infiniti accounts in April and will handle Black and Hispanic marketing. The incumbent was Fluent360, which is minority-owned by Omnicom. For Nissan, Third Ear will collaborate with Nissan United, Omnicom’s dedicated Nissan creative and media agency. For Infiniti, it will work with Publicis Groupe, which has handled the brand’s global creative since 2021.

 

There was not a formal agency review.

 

“We looked at Omnicom to provide us a great solution for multicultural,” said Nissan U.S. Chief Marketing Officer and VP Marisstella Marinkovic. “And so they connected us with Third Ear and we had deep conversations. We gave them an assignment. And we decided to move forward with the relationship.”

 

Fluent360 Founder and CEO Danielle Austen in a statement said the agency is “proud of our fifteen years leading the multicultural business for Nissan North America. We wish both Infiniti and Nissan the best in their pursuits to win with these vital audience segments.”

 

Not a monolith

 

While Nissan and Infiniti have invested significantly in multicultural marketing in recent years—Nissan in February ran a Super Bowl ad on Univision’s Spanish-language broadcast—the hiring of Third Ear signals a possible shift in creative approach.

 

The agency, formerly known as LatinWorks, rebranded in 2019 in an effort to grow beyond its pure-play Hispanic agency roots. It took the name Third Ear as a signal that it listens to the nuances that make people different. It has since refined its approach to become what it describes as an “identities-led creative agency,” with a philosophy that takes ethnicity into account in multicultural marketing but goes further to recognize that individuals within a certain ethnic group can be very different.

 

“We think that identity transcends ethnicity,” Third Ear Chief Strategy Officer Ed Castillo said in an interview this week. “Endemic factors, like the language you speak, and the food you eat, will always have a meaningful effect,” he said. But “eventually, you will go into the world and you will proclaim a certain identity … I’m a gamer, metalhead, whatever the case might be.”

 

So marketing should not treat groups as a monolith, according to an agency. “One of the standard assumptions about Hispanic audiences is that they are completely focused on the family,” Castillo said. While that might be the case for some, through consumer research, “we found examples of younger, ambitious Hispanics who … will be the first to raise their hand and say, I’m willing to sacrifice time with my family to get further in my career.”

 

“If you show up to multicultural marketing with certain monolithic assumptions, you will miss nuance,” he added.

 

While it is too soon to tell how this approach will show up in Nissan and Infiniti marketing, one possibility is that it could be used to produce work that appeals equally to Black and Hispanic audiences, rather than siloing it.

 

“We have to find some commonalities. And those commonalities are very powerful,” said Third Ear Chief Creative Officer Serge Flores.

 

Growing market

 

The agency change comes as multicultural marketing rises in importance for automotive brands, which increasingly view multicultural audiences as a source of sales growth. General Motors, Hyundai and Stellantis are among the automakers that in recent years have added agencies dedicated to boosting affinity with Black and Hispanic audiences.

 

Nissan and Infiniti already over-index with Black and Hispanic consumers: Nissan is ranked eighth when it comes to sales with all consumers, but has a fifth-place ranking for both Hispanic and Black buyers, according to business intelligence firm S&P Global. Infiniti does not crack the top 10 in total sales, but comes in eighth and ninth, with Black and Hispanic buyers, respectively.

 

The QX80 launch will be one of the first big tests for Third Ear. “We need a partner that’s going to help us authentically show up in social with our influencers, and how we buy media to make sure that that we're relevant in this consumer base that we already overindex with,” Pratt said.

 

As for Nissan, the brand has been increasing its multicultural marketing budget by 25% year over year, and “we’re going to continue to increase year over year,” Marinkovic said. Nissan wants to “make sure that we’re authentically connecting not only with with that specific customer, but with culture as well, and with their interests. So in order to connect and really build your brand, you have to go beyond just your sort of basics.”

 

She pointed to Nissan’s recent reveal of the 2025 Nissan Kicks subcompact crossover as an example of what’s to come. In March, the brand staged an “unboxing” of the vehicle in Brooklyn outside the Barclays Center during opening round play of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The event, which featured a “virtual” reveal of the model using a 3D digital “shoebox” was intended to play into sneaker, basketball and music culture.

16410: Nissan Drives Down A Familiar Road.

 

Nissan rolls out the standard minority leaders salute for National Hispanic Heritage Month. The other eleven months take a different route.

15735: BHM 2022—Nissan.

 

Nissan presents Electric Beats, a Black History Month initiative saluting the contributions that Black musicians have made to American music. Okay, except the car brand has a history of dissing the contributions of Black and minority advertising agencies…

15345: Cultures Collide In Clichéd Cluelessness.

 

This limited edition Nissan Tokyo campaign from Hungary blends Japanese and Hungarian imagery—stereotypes standard.

 

15183: Nissan Speeds Ahead With COVID-19 Cluelessness.

Why is Nissan still running this commercial in times of social distancing? The 2020 Altima’s high-tech features apparently don’t include coronavirus caution devices.

14892: Campaign Combining Cars & Clichés Creates Cultural Crash.

This Nissan campaign from Germany presents the Japanese automaker via fans. Sorry, not a fan of cultural clichés.

12252: With Frenemies Like These…

Adweek reported Crispin Porter + Bogusky—the new White advertising agency for Infiniti—is teaming up with Anomaly, whose Shanghai office will handle the China portion of the account for the first year or two until CP+B can establish an office in the country. CP+B and Anomaly are sister agencies in the MDC Partners holding company; plus, the two competed against each other during the pitch for the entire account.

There are at least a couple of elements in this scenario that may be deemed as typical White advertising agency bullshit.

For starters, minority advertising agencies are routinely rejected from even participating in account reviews with the excuse that the firms lack global resources. Yet White advertising agencies lacking global resources are granted a few years to build a shop in foreign lands where they are culturally clueless. Adweek initially reported the following:

In its RFP, Infiniti, a unit of Nissan, identified its priority markets as the U.S., China and Hong Kong, though the brand also is sold in Europe, the Middle East, Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Canada and seven other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. So, having a global footprint is key to servicing the business.

In other words, CP+B was competing with the full knowledge that it did not have offices or capabilities in the priority markets identified by the client.

How do White advertising agencies such as Anomaly literally lose a pitch and still win significant business from the client? Looks like MDC Partners is emulating Omnicom with its use of Corporate Cultural Collusion. Last October, Adweek also reported the following:

Infiniti executives briefed Anomaly but the shop exited before final presentations last month, sources said. And after those presentations, the execs narrowed their focus to Crispin and Goodby.

Did Anomaly exit early knowing there was a good chance of nabbing Infiniti’s China business? Something smells fishy here.

Adweek ran a headline that stated “Crispin Turns to a Frenemy” for global assistance. Sorry, but there are no frenemies within holding companies. In the end, it’s all just business as usual for global advertisers and White advertising agencies, perpetuating the cronyism, exclusivity and discrimination that poisons our industry.

Crispin Turns to a Frenemy to Create Infiniti Ads in China

Gets help from sister shop and pitch rival Anomaly

By Andrew McMains

To handle a key market for its new global Infiniti business, MDC Partners’ Crispin Porter + Bogusky has turned to a rival, albeit one from the same holding company.

Until Crispin opens an office in Shanghai, China, Anomaly’s office there will create ads for the region. The move is unusual, as Anomaly competed against Crispin for Infiniti’s global account. But the luxury auto brand has immediate needs and high growth expectations in China, and starting an office takes time.

As such, Anomaly will handle the China portion of the account for at least a year—and possibly longer—until Crispin sets up shop. The account sharing also illustrates the imperfect choice that Infiniti faced when it selected Crispin instead of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to take on its global business. Goodby has no overseas offices and Crispin has just a few, in London; Copenhagen, Denmark; Gothenburg, Sweden; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In the end, though, Crispin will get by with a little help from a frenemy.

Beyond the MDC connections, Infiniti vp of global marketing Vincent Gillet noted a “genuine cultural fit and respect between CP + B and Anomaly.”

There’s also, of course, a revenue benefit to Anomaly, whose Shanghai office employs about 40 people and is led by CEO Eric Lee, executive creative director Elvis Chau and chief strategy officer Richard Summers. Other accounts include Budweiser, Converse and Pepsi, for which it Mirinda, a citrus soda brand. The office opened in 2013.

In explaining the partnership with Crispin, Anomaly global CEO Carl Johnson cited an affinity with the car brand, its leadership and Crispin. “We are therefore delighted to help our sister agency in the first year or two as they set up operations in Shanghai,” Johnson said.

Crispin CEO international Richard Pinder said the account sharing was borne of “trusting people rather than structures,” adding that Anomaly Shanghai’s leaders “know the market well, the issues.” Besides, he added, “it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to find out that when you’re in the car business, China is kind of important.”

12165: Infiniti’s New White Agency.

Adweek reported Infiniti selected Crispin Porter + Bogusky as its new White advertising agency. No word yet on non-White duties. Whatever happened with the multicultural enterprise Omnicom invented for Nissan in 2008 to comply with the automaker’s requirement for certified minority ownership? To date, CP+B has only demonstrated certifiable cultural cluelessness.

Infiniti, at Last, Picks a New Global Lead Agency

Automaker spends $450 million in media annually

By Andrew McMains, Noreen O’Leary

Infiniti, in a long-running review that lived up to its name, has selected Crispin Porter + Bogusky to lead its global creative efforts, according to sources.

Crispin, a unit of MDC Partners, succeeds Omnicom Group’s TBWA, which had handled the business since 1998. Crispin referred calls to Infiniti, which had no immediate comment. But sources said that the automaker had told the remaining contenders of its decision.

Account revenue is estimated at $30 million and in term of media, the brand spends around $450 million annually, according to Infiniti’s initial request for proposals.

In its final stages, the review became a battle among relatively small agencies, some of which have scant or no presence outside the U.S. For example, one contender, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, currently operates only in America and would have opened offices overseas to service the account. Likewise, Crispin is partnering with recently acquired sister shop The House to meet Infiniti’s geographical needs.

Sources previously identified the other contenders as Anomaly and Bartle Bogle Hegarty. Infiniti executives briefed Anomaly but the shop exited before final presentations last month, sources said. And after those presentations, the execs narrowed their focus to Crispin and Goodby.

Even before Infiniti, the luxury division of Nissan, hired Roth Observatory International to manage its search in the spring, the car company had talked to agencies interested in its business. In fact, sources said that those conversations began late last year.

The stakes are high for Infiniti, which has ambitious growth plans but whose U.S. sales lag far behind brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus. Through the first nine months of 2015, Infiniti ranked seventh among luxury marks in the U.S., with unit sales of just 84,880, according to Autodata Corp. In the same period, market leader BMW sold 236,591 vehicles, slightly ahead of Mercedes, at 233,210 units, and Lexus, at 220,683 units, Autodata reported.

In its rfp, Infiniti said its goal was to be a “provocateur that owns the future of the premium car category by winning the hearts of young-minded premium consumers [though] seductive styling, attitude, exhilarating performance, emotive design and intuitive technology.” Well, now the company has a new agency to take up that charge.