17492: More On Byron Allen & CBS Breakthrough Deal.

 

Deadline reported on the deal hatched by Byron Allen and CBS, which the network views as “a new business and programming model for late night that proactively addresses a network daypart that was cost prohibitive to continue.”

 

In short, Allen orchestrated an unprecedented arrangement designed to profit all parties.

 

But don’t bet on Mickey D’s and General Motors appearing as Comics Unleashed advertisers.

 

CBS Defends Byron Allen Time Buy, Discloses Financials On ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’s Annual Loss & ‘Comics Unleashed’s Profit

 

By Nellie Andreeva

 

Amid continuing speculation about political motivation behind CBS’ decision to cancel The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and a soft ratings start for its successor, Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed, the network issued a statement Thursday. In it, CBS for the first time revealed the balance sheet for The Late Show, claiming that it lost about $40 million a year, a number that had been circulated but not officially confirmed until now.

 

The network also disclosed that Allen is paying $15 million a year as a “time buy,” meaning that he is leasing the 11:30 PM hour from CBS and selling its ad inventory himself in search of profit. That is a flat fee for the network not contingent on the show’s performance (which would impact Allen’s ad rates).

 

Comics Unleashed launched on May 22, the night after Colbert signed off from The Late Show. On a night that has been dark in late-night for a couple of years, Comics Unleashed averaged 878,000 total viewers over the two half-hours, according to Nielsen Live+Same Day Panel+Big Data, a fraction of the 6.74 million viewers the Colbert finale drew the night before. Comics Unleashed’s debut stacks better against The Late Show’s L+SD season average prior to the finale, 2.14 million.

 

“We’re proud to partner with Byron Allen on a new business and programming model for late night that proactively addresses a network daypart that was cost prohibitive to continue,” CBS said in its statement. “With this ‘time buy’ model, we have shifted an hour that was losing roughly $40 million annually to $15 million in profit — a $55 million swing.”

 

The Late Show was produced by CBS Studios, so the company shouldered 100% of the production cost amid an ad revenue declines across all entertainment programming on linear, with late-night’s drop among the steepest, said to be 65% over the past 6 years.

 

CBS and its parent Paramount Skydance have been widely criticized over the decision to cancel Colbert, who had been one of the most outspoken critics of President Donald Trump. The network’s decision to outright axe the show on the eve of Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount Global instead of looking for ways to improve its financials by cost-saving measures further fueled the backlash.

 

The person who launched The Late Show, Colbert’s predecessor David Letterman, has been particularly vocal on the issue.

 

“[Colbert] was dumped because the people selling the network to Skydance said, ‘Oh no, there’s not going to be any trouble with that guy. We’re going to take care of the show. We’re just going to throw that into the deal. When will the ink on the check dry?’ I’m just going to go on record as saying: They’re lying,” Letterman told The New York Times recently. “Let me just add one other thing. They’re lying weasels.”

17489: On Late Night Television And Byron Allen.

 

NBC News revealed how Byron Allen persuaded CBS to award him the time slot formerly held by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

 

Allen delivered a unique pitch, as detailed via the article below.

 

The image directly below unintentionally underscores Allen brings diversity to late night television—which will likely get the critical attention of President Donald J. Trump, who recently boasted, “We ended DEI in America!”

 

 

Byron Allen on how CBS handed him Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ time slot

 

The comedian-turned-media mogul spoke to NBC News this week about how “Comics Unleashed,” as well as his majority stake in Buzzfeed, will help him grow his media empire.

 

By Chloe Melas

 

As CBS sunsets “The Late Show,” media executive Byron Allen is gearing up to take over one of television’s most coveted evening time slots.

 

Starting Friday, Allen’s long-running syndicated comedy series, “Comics Unleashed,” will air at 11:35 p.m. ET.

 

Allen, who rose to fame as a stand-up comic, described the move as a “business opportunity” that he believes could help further expand his media empire. Last week, he bought a controlling stake in Buzzfeed, the digital media company co-founded by Jonah Peretti that helped define virality online.

 

His CBS pitch formed much earlier, however. Allen said that when news broke in July that the Paramount-owned CBS would be booting Stephen Colbert and the late-night staple off the air, he approached the network with a simple question.

 

“I said, ‘OK, do you like money?’” he said in an interview this week. “They said, ‘Yes!’”

Allen is friends with Colbert — the two go way back. He urged CBS to “not put on another show” if it went through with canceling the cancellation. He said he told the network, “I’ll buy the time period, and you can save over $110 million.”

 

Under the arrangement, Allen leases the hour and sells the advertising inventory himself. Although he wouldn’t reveal exactly how much he’s spending on the deal, he did say he’s “putting a lot of money in their cash register.”

 

“I am a gift from the money gods and the comedy gods,” he said.

 

Allen’s dream of appearing on late-night television dates back decades. When he was a child, his mother — an NBC employee who couldn’t afford childcare — took him to the lot in Burbank, California, where he got to watch late-night legend Johnny Carson in action.

 

“You know, my mom ended up convincing NBC to start an intern program with her, so she could work here for free,” he said. “While I was there, waiting for her to get off work, I’m watching Johnny Carson, and I’m like, wow, Johnny Carson is amazing, and he’s having the time of his life, lots of laughs, lots of fun.”

 

It all came full circle in 1979, when Allen got to do stand-up comedy on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”

 

“I was thinking to myself, in the next five minutes I’m going to change my life and my mother’s life forever, so I’m going to go out there and have a great time, and after I make these people laugh, we’re never going to worry about a bowl of cereal again,” he said.

 

Eventually, he jumped into the media business and founded Allen Media Group (Entertainment Studios) in 1993. He owns television channels such as Pets.TV and Cars.TV. And in 2018, Entertainment Studios bought the Weather Channel’s parent company.

 

He sees a bright future for Buzzfeed, a brand that he said has “a great following.”

 

“Everything Jonah [Peretti] has built in the last 20 years, we are not touching that,” he said. “That is the foundation we are building on that, and we’re making it additive.”

 

But the media company, which was among the first digital-media startups to be valued at over $1 billion, has struggled to maintain a sustainable business model, as Axios reported this week.

 

Allen’s plan for the site involves having user-generated content that won’t live behind a paywall and will instead be available on his ad-supported streaming platform, Local Now.

 

“‘Free’ is the world’s favorite word,” he said. “The two best words in media: ‘free’ and ‘streaming’ ... bring it together and, poof, you’ve got something magical.”

 

Allen’s ambitions stretch even further. He said he eventually wants to control the premium cable network Starz, where he is the second-largest stockholder.

 

“I want to own it. I plan to own it, and somehow one day I’m going to own it and control it,” Allen said. “What I’ve said to them is, what I would like for you to do is, I would like to keep it publicly traded, and I would like for you to let me put more capital in Starz and become the controlling shareholder.”

 

That may be difficult, however.

 

Allen previously explored deals that didn’t materialize, including deals with TV station operator Tegna and the NFL’s Washington Commanders. In 2024, he also tried to make a play for Paramount, CNBC reported.

 

Last year, Starz separated from the studio, Lionsgate, to become its own standalone public company. In March, “the Starz board unanimously voted to adopt a limited-duration shareholder protection rights agreement, also known as a ‘poison pill,’” according to Deadline, which described the move as a “defensive strategy used by companies against activist investors and hostile takeovers.”

 

A representative for Starz didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

That hurdle doesn’t appear to deter Allen, however. At 65, he continues to pursue his dreams, with his mother remaining one of his biggest motivations in life.

 

“It makes me feel great, because at the end of the day, all I want to do is make my mama proud, no matter how rich I get,” he said. “I’m just still a little scared little boy hanging on to my mother’s leg.”

17479: Heard The Buzz? Byron Allen Buys BuzzFeed.

 

Adweek reported the latest buzz on Byron Allen adding BuzzFeed to his media empire.

 

Under Byron Allen, BuzzFeed Sets Its Sights on the Living Room

 

The pivot mirrors a broader shift afoot in digital media, as audiences and ad budgets gravitate toward streaming

 

By Mark Stenberg

 

When it first launched in 2006, BuzzFeed was a trailblazer, creating from scratch a playbook for sparking virality in the early days of the social internet.

 

Now, following its Monday acquisition by media executive Byron Allen, the brand and its sister property, HuffPost, have trained their focus on the newest battleground in the attention wars: the living room.

 

“As of this moment, BuzzFeed is officially chasing YouTube and the other big tech platforms,” Allen told The New York Times.

 

BuzzFeed is hardly alone in this pivot. Structural forces are threatening the durability of the open internet, with answer engines siphoning traffic away from websites and users increasingly gravitating toward mobile apps and walled gardens.

 

In response, media brands have adopted an increasingly distributed approach, cultivating audiences across channels including newsletters, podcasts, and live events. But one channel in particular appears poised for explosive growth: streaming television.

 

After years of deliberate expansion, streaming surpassed cable in total viewership in 2024, according to Nielsen. Its share of total television ad spend has gone from 15% in 2020 to 38% in 2025, with the crossover projected for 2027-2028, according to Adwave.

 

And while the streaming wars of the early pandemic centered largely on subscription-based products from the likes of Netflix, Disney, and Prime Video, the single largest player in the space for the last three years running is YouTube. The free, ad-supported platform captured 12.7% of all viewing in February—up from 7.9% in February 2023.

 

The platform, which has long been attractive to creators, is now increasingly drawing the attention of major media brands, as its accessibility, powerful algorithm, and simple monetization model make it nearly a video business in a box.

 

For a publisher like BuzzFeed, which has already built a dedicated following on the platform, doubling down on YouTube is a forward-thinking strategy. It can treat the website as the top of its content funnel, attracting viewers there before shepherding them into more direct relationships, such as through newsletters, podcasts, and commerce.

 

In this effort, Allen’s decades of expertise in television and the production infrastructure he has at hand could prove to be valuable tailwinds. The medium might be entirely different, but the content itself is not. 

 

BuzzFeed is not the first media brand of its vintage to adopt this approach. Vice Media, which also encapsulated the froth of digital media in the last decade, has pivoted from a web and text-based business to a producer of video content. The upside of such a strategy might be diminished, but so too are the risks.

 

Of course, embracing such a streaming-centric playbook will naturally entail a substantial restructuring. Allen has already warned that layoffs are on the horizon. 

 

And while BuzzFeed has a long history of launching popular franchises, HuffPost has a less established record on that front. News is a more saturated ecosystem than original programming, and HuffPost might struggle to compete with its blue-chip peers in the space.

 

For Allen, the acquisition is a relatively low-stakes gambit. The deal stipulates that he, through his holding company Allen Family Digital, only has to pay $20 million for his 52% ownership stake today. The rest of the $100 million will be paid over a five-year time horizon. 

 

This means Allen gets the BuzzFeed, Tasty, and HuffPost brands—and, more importantly, their YouTube footprints—for about as much money as Valnet paid for Polygon or Ziff Davis paid for Dwell, Domino, Business of Home, and PopSci. 

 

The bottom lines of these companies have sagged in recent years, but they have name-brand recognition and YouTube followings in the tens of millions. If Allen can successfully reorient these companies into video businesses, expect to see more such acquisitions in the near future.

17403: Byron Allen Increases His Starz Power.

Variety reported media mogul Byron Allen pivoted from his crusade against Mickey D’s, acquiring a 10.7% stake in Starz Entertainment for $25 million. Can’t help but wonder if Allen’s McSettlement money helped finance the Starz move.

 

One way to fight disempowerment is to seize power.

 

Byron Allen Acquires 10.7% Stake in Starz From Steve Mnuchin’s Investment Firm for $25 Million

 

By Todd Spangler

 

Allen Family Capital, the investment arm of media mogul Byron Allen, acquired a 10.7% stake in Starz Entertainment for $25 million in a private transaction with Liberty Steve Mnuchin’s Liberty 77 Capital.

 

In an announcement Thursday, Allen Family Capital said it acquired 1,803,786 common shares of Starz at a purchase price of $13.86 per common share for aggregate consideration of $25 million. The deal gives Allen — who previously didn’t own any Starz shares — beneficial ownership of approximately 10.7% of Starz’s issued and outstanding common shares.

 

On March 4, Mnuchin’s Liberty Funds entered into an agreement to sell all of the shares owned by them in a private sale transaction for $25 million, per an SEC filing. Mnuchin is the former Hollywood producer who served as Treasury Secretary during President Trump’s first term.

 

In May 2025, Lionsgate completed the split with the Starz premium cable and streaming business, which is now a separately traded company. Mnuchin owns about 13% of Lionsgate Studios and joined the company’s board in January.

 

Starz ended 2025 with 12.7 million U.S. streaming subscribers, gaining 370,000 in the year-end period. Total subscribers across Starz platforms reached 17.6 million, up 170,000 sequentially. Streaming revenue for Q4 2025 was $210.3 million (down from $239 million in the prior-year quarter), while linear and “other” revenue rose to $112.5 million vs. $105.5 million at the end of 2024. The company reported a net loss of $20.7 million, an improvement from a net loss of $31.8 million a year earlier.

 

Beverly Hills-based Allen Family Capital is the private investment firm and family office of Byron Allen.

 

Allen acquired the stake in Starz “for investment purposes and intends to review such investment on a continuing basis. As such, Allen may, depending on Starz’s performance and other market conditions, increase or decrease the investment position,” the firm said in its announcement.

 

“Allen may, from time to time, make additional acquisitions of Common Shares or other securities of Starz either in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, including transactions directly with Starz,” Allen Family Capital said. Such decisions will be based on its “evaluation of Starz’s business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations, the market for the Common Shares or other securities, other opportunities available to Allen, general economic conditions, stock market conditions and other factors.”

 

Allen Media Group, founded in 1993, owns and/or operates 27 ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox network affiliate broadcast television stations in 21 U.S. markets and 10 television networks serving nearly 300 million subscribers including the Weather Channel, TheGrio and HBCU Go. The company also produces, distributes, and sells advertising for 74 TV programs.  

17216: Comical Court Cases Unleashed With Byron Allen…?

 

Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen is coming to CBS, slotted right after slated-to-be-cancelled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

 

If advertisers fail to support Allen’s show, there will be hell to pay—via discrimination lawsuits.

17097: Mickey D’s & Byron Allen Reach A McSettlement.

 

Advertising Age republished Crain’s Chicago Business content reporting Mickey D’s and Byron Allen settled the media mogul’s $10 billion discrimination lawsuit.

 

Reaching a confidential agreement means the public will never learn the amount collected by Allen. The deal includes a McPromise to continue buying advertising from Allen’s Entertainment Studios Network.

 

Expect to see McWeather Reports delivered by Ronald McDonald and Grimace.

 

For now, hopefully, Allen feels Black & Positively Golden^®.

 

McDonald’s settles Byron Allen’s $10B ad discrimination lawsuit

 

McDonald’s has settled a $10 billion lawsuit filed by Byron Allen, apparently ending a years-long legal drama between the fast food giant and media mogul over alleged discrimination in advertising practices.

 

In a June 13 press release, McDonald’s announced it reached a confidential agreement in which it will continue to purchase advertising from Allen’s Entertainment Studios Network priced at market value in exchange for the network’s dismissal of the suit.

 

Allen, who owns properties such as The Weather Channel and Justice Central, filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s in 2021, alleging the Chicago-based chain discriminated against his company through racial stereotyping and refusals to contract. Two years later, Allen escalated by buying a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune soliciting activist investor Carl Icahn to join the legal fight and suing again, alleging McDonald’s was not on track to meet a 2021 commitment to spend more of its advertising budget with Black-owned media companies. That complaint was dismissed in 2024.

 

The original suit filed in 2021 was slated to go to trial next month.

 

“We are pleased that Mr. Allen has come to appreciate McDonald’s unwavering commitment to inclusion, and has agreed to refocus his energies on a mutually beneficial commercial arrangement that is consistent with other McDonald’s supplier relationships,” McDonald’s said in the release.

 

“During the course of this litigation, many of our preconceptions have been clarified, and we acknowledge McDonald’s commitment to investing in Black-owned media properties and increasing access to opportunity,” Entertainment Studios Network said in the McDonald’s release. “Our differences are behind us, and we look forward to working together.”

 

—Crain’s Chicago Business

16917: DEI Fact-Checking Fast-Talking Fast Feeder.

 

Forbes published content that feels like corporate-sponsored performative PR, seeking to explain the scenario that should be called Mickey DEI’s.

 

National news sources—including Forbes—initially headlined Mickey D’s joined other major brands abandoning DEIBA+ heat shields.

 

This latest Forbes content, however, seemingly whitewashes the proceedings to cast the Golden Arches in a progressive light.

 

Exposing the McTruth requires answering the following questions:

 

Will non-White advertising agencies receive even fewer McCrumbs?

 

Will the National Black McDonald’s Operators Association be adversely affected?

 

Will Black & Positively Golden^® lose its luster?

 

Will Byron Allen deliver color commentary—or subpoenas?

 

McDonald’s Stands Firm Against DEI Pushback, Emphasizes Inclusion

 

By Corinne Post

 

Under growing scrutiny of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, McDonald’s is the latest company to publicly communicate changes to its DEI strategy. While headlines often emphasize what firms are scaling back, McDonald’s statement highlights what it is choosing to retain—offering insights into which practices are likely to endure.

 

The fast-food giant announced plans earlier this week to discontinue aspirational quotas, pause participation in external surveys and remove mandatory supplier diversity pledges. Yet, its reaffirmed commitments suggest that effectively managing diversity remains a cornerstone of its long-term competitiveness strategy.

 

Here’s a closer look at how McDonald’s aims to embed inclusion into its operations and strengthen its competitive advantage—offering valuable lessons for organizations reevaluating their DEI initiatives.

 

Inclusion Converts McDonald’s Diversity Into Competitiveness

 

McDonald’s renewed focus on inclusion reflects a key finding from research: diversity alone is not enough to drive innovation or high performance—success depends on fostering inclusion. As McDonald’s explains it, “Our system leverages inclusion to operate successfully and grow our businesses” and “early and full adoption of inclusion gives us a competitive advantage.”

 

For employees to contribute their perspectives and unique resources, they must feel like integral members of the organization, with access to the resources they need and opportunities to influence work-related decisions. McDonald’s Employee Business Networks (EBNs) exemplify how the company embeds inclusion into its operations: “We also lean on employee business networks and franchisee affinity groups to help us solve business problems,” the company states.

 

This approach emphasizes that inclusion is not an isolated initiative, but a practice woven into daily operations, supporting McDonald’s commitment to “continuing to embed inclusion practices that grow our business into our everyday process and operations.”

 

McDonald’s approach underscores that fostering inclusion in all daily operations can convert diversity into a competitive advantage.

 

McDonald’s Diverse Workforce Demands Inclusive Leadership

 

McDonald’s highlights the importance of inclusive leadership as a key factor in sustaining a diverse workforce, even as it pauses external surveys. These surveys previously served to benchmark progress and foster transparency by sharing diversity outcomes externally. By discontinuing them, McDonald’s signals a shift toward internal evaluation methods, aiming to embed inclusion directly into its operations rather than focusing on external reporting.

 

Notably, firms continue to emphasize the need for executives to develop and apply inclusive leadership skills as they remove their DEI initiatives from public scrutiny.

 

Although firms face increasing pressures from anti-DEI activists, in the form of shareholder proposals and public campaigns, the fundamental challenges that have made diversity a strategic priority for corporate leaders—talent shortages, competitive pressures—remain unchanged. This explains why firms like McDonald’s see inclusive leadership as critical to navigating these challenges.

 

As firms respond to both anti-DEI pressures and market realities, McDonald’s demonstrates that leadership remains a crucial lever for embedding inclusion in ways that drive long term success in workplace diversity.

 

McDonald’s Empowers Communities To Champion Diversity

 

The fast-food chain’s approach to fostering inclusion mirrors the co-design principles used by companies like REI and Mattel, particularly in its collaboration with Employee Business Networks and franchisees. Co-design principles emphasize designing DEI projects with rather than for identity-based groups by involving them throughout the process.

 

As McDonald’s explains in their public statement: “Our system thrives when we are shaped by the communities in which we operate.”

 

Unlike superficial consultation, McDonald’s states that the EBNs are involved in business-related decision-making. As such, EBNs are more than advisory groups—they are actively sought out to address business challenges a strategy that has been highly effective at other organizations, like IBM.

 

In addition to collaborating with EBNs, McDonald’s also entrusts franchisees with spearheading local diversity initiatives, empowering them “to champion causes and participate in activities that resonate with their customers and communities in a way that’s true to our Brand’s DNA.”

 

This approach highlights the company’s belief that inclusion stems from continuous engagement with communities, learning from them, rather than only imposing solutions from the top that risk being ineffective.

 

Ultimately, McDonald’s co-design approach reflects a shift from compliance-driven diversity to community-centered inclusion.

 

Accountability, Key To McDonald’s Inclusion Gains

 

The fast-food giant emphasized accountability as core to its long term diversity strategy. McDonald’s pledged to publicly report board, employee and supplier demographics in its annual Purpose and Impact report. It also said the firm will continue to hold its leaders accountable “for fostering an inclusive environment within their teams.”

 

Accountability is one of the most reliable levers for improving workforce diversity. That is because when leaders expect their decisions to be evaluated, they are more likely to act purposefully to suppress their biases, according to researchers Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev, who have extensively studied the efficacy of diversity initiatives.

 

When leaders know that they may be asked to explain poor inclusion scores on their teams, they are more motivated to review their leadership practices. This should encourage them to develop inclusive leadership skills.

 

Similarly, publicizing workforce demographic numbers encourages scrutiny, which may motivate firms to have internal processes that promote fair and equitable hiring and promotion decisions.

 

However, diversity accountability may be limited to the demographic groups for which firms disclose numbers. McDonald’s last report provides information only on the representation of women and of five racio-ethnic groups. Notably, the firm’s most recent pledge does not mention franchisee demographics—a key feature of its last report, which may indicate a strategic decision to limit reporting in this area.

 

The Big Picture Takeaway

 

McDonald’s response to growing scrutiny shows that evolving a DEI strategy doesn’t have to mean scaling back efforts. By embedding inclusion into daily operations, prioritizing leadership accountability, and empowering employee networks and franchisees, the company demonstrates how DEI can remain a competitive asset rather than a compliance exercise. For organizations navigating similar pressures, McDonald’s approach underscores that thoughtful adaptation—rooted in transparency and collaboration—can strengthen both organizational resilience and community connections.

16730: Delayed WTF 61—General Motors, General Market, General Mayhem.

 

MultiCultClassics is often occupied with real work. As a result, a handful of events occur without the expected blog commentary. This limited series—Delayed WTF—seeks to make belated amends for the absence of malice.

 

GM Authority reported on the General Motors multi-car wreck, whereby the automaker decided to roll with a new line of White advertising agencies.

 

There are key issues in the GM fiasco that warrant rants, including:

 

• The GM Global Chief Transformation Officer gushed the car company “selected the very best-in-class agencies in the entire world.” Um, GM can’t manage to produce best-in-class vehicles, so their ability to identify best-in-class White advertising agencies should be questioned for sure.

 

• The corporation that took full advantage of a bailout in 2008 is now bailing out of Detroit—at least in terms of advertising—effectively decimating the Midwest marketing community. The destruction will include shops literally fabricated to exclusively service GM—as well as workers who ran the promotional assembly lines. Social media voices are reacting to the sad situation, along with even sadder regional White advertising agencies.

 

• In most of the trade journal content, there were no mentions of non-White advertising agencies affected by the GM move. On a related tip, does Shaquille O’Neal—co-founder of multicrumbtual marketing firm Majority—really know about the systemic racism in the industry? Does the NBA All-Star and Hall of Famer realize he’s playing on the B squad? Perhaps he ought to team up with Byron Allen.

 

General Motors has a shiny new fleet of White advertising agencies. But in the end, it’s the same old story.

 

GM Adding New Roster Of Ad Agencies

 

By Rhian Hunt

 

GM is significantly shaking up its advertising partners, hiring an assortment of new creative and media agencies to handle several key marketing aspects while keeping some of the “old guard” ad agencies for certain parts of its promotional strategy.

 

The General is looking outside Detroit for many of its new ad creators, ranging as far afield as both U.S. coasts and Texas as it tries bringing new blood to a challenging sales environment, as Ad Age reports.

 

Ad content creation will now be handled by a lineup of new ad agencies, including Media.Monks, Preacher, Mother, 72andSunny, and Anomaly, with as many as 16 different companies contacted by GM during its advertising review. According to Molly Peck, the automaker’s Global Chief Transformation Officer, GM “selected the very best-in-class agencies in the entire world.”

 

According to Peck, the company will move away from an “agency of record” or AOR model of advertising in which a specific agency is authorized to handle an enterprise’s advertising for it. Instead, GM will set an advertising strategy, and then “a roster of agencies” will execute “the creative vision—the brand, the look, the tone, the feel, the major campaigns” to give customers new ads in “a very fast, efficient and prolific way.”

 

Some of the “old guard” agencies will continue to have roles to play, such as Commonwealth/McCann, which will develop future international Chevy ad campaigns. Commonwealth/McCann created the “Together Let’s Drive” tagline for Chevy, an advertising slogan that also calls for unity at a time of strong U.S. political division.

 

Part of GM’s quest for a more flexible, customized, and varied ad development process seems to be a response to the challenge of marketing electric vehicles at a time when nearly half of previous American EV buyers are returning to ICE vehicles, but GM continues its mission to drastically expand its electric vehicles sales.

 

GM began its ad agency assessment at the start of this year, following its appointment of Norm de Greve as senior vice president and chief marketing officer last July. Molly Peck assumed the mantle of General Motors’ global transformation officer, following years of marketing experience at Buick and GMC, in April of this year and immediately began work on changing GM’s marketing operations to align better with the needs of the times.

 

General Motors spent $2.9 billion in U.S. advertising in 2023, a major chunk of its $3.6 billion global advertising budget, though the amount is down 10 percent year over year, according to Ad Age.