16737: IPG Braking & Breaking Commonwealth/McCann.

 

Advertising Age reported IPG White advertising agency Commonwealth/McCann in Detroit is executing layoffs—up to 56 employees—resulting from the recent General Motors decision to roll with new White advertising agencies based outside of the Midwest region.

 

The shop originally launched in early 2012 as a joint venture between White advertising agencies from different White holding companies—Omnicom’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners and IPG’s McCann. The honeymoon didn’t last long, as GM drove Chevy business from GS&P to Leo Burnett months later, prompted by shifting CMOs at the automaker. The latest GM maneuver, incidentally, was also accelerated by a new CMO.

 

It all just goes to show that White holding companies, White advertising agencies, White car companies, and White CMOs create total wrecks that injure lots of White people. Indeed, GM appears to have an assembly line churning out Mark LaNeve models as crummy as the produced vehicles.

 

In short, it’s common chaos—and the wealth is rarely shared with common workers.

15265: Pursuing The Next Chapter Of Professional Lie.

Advertising Age reported Mark LaNeve is leaving his VP of U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service role with Ford effective immediately in pursuit of the “next chapter of his professional life.” So, that means—along with President Donald Trump—two of the biggest liars ever will be looking for new jobs this month. All the best.

 

Ford Sales And Marketing Boss Mark LaNeve Leaving Company

 

Mark LaNeve is leaving to pursue the ‘next chapter of his professional life’ after a nearly six-year tenure

 

By Michael Martinez

 

Ford Motor Co. said Monday that Mark LaNeve, VP of U.S. marketing, sales and service since 2015, is leaving the company effective immediately to pursue the “next chapter of his professional life.”

 

He will be replaced by Andrew Frick, who becomes VP, sales, U.S. and Canada, effective Monday. Frick, a 25-year company veteran, previously was manager of marketing, sales and service for the Lincoln brand. He also held marketing and sales director roles for Ford Motor.

 

“I had six great years at Ford, and it was a privilege to serve the company and our dealers,” LaNeve told Automotive News in a statement. “After the amazing job the Ford team and dealers did during the pandemic, it felt like the right time to move on to new challenges.”

 

Ford said Frick, 47, will oversee sales, customer care and dealer relations for the Ford brand in both Canada and the U.S. He will report to Kumar Galhotra, president, Ford Americas and International Markets Group. Ford in November named former eBay North American chief marketing officer Suzy Deering as its global CMO.

 

“Andrew brings deep product knowledge, a passion for customers, excellent dealer relations and a proven track record of results to the critical role of leading the sales organization in our largest market,” Galhotra said in a statement.

 

“His leadership will be critical as Ford continues to turn around its automotive operations, especially with exciting new products and ever-improving quality, modernizing all aspects of the company and disrupting our conventional automotive businesses to better serve customers.”

 

Ford and GM roles

 

LaNeve, 61, is one of the few auto industry executives to hold high-level executive positions at both Ford and Detroit rival General Motors. He leaves Ford after a nearly six-year tenure where he forged a close bond with many of Ford’s retailers.

 

Prior to his role at Ford, he was chief operating officer of the company’s marketing and ad agency, WPP-owned GTB. He previously was CEO of Volvo Cars of North America, general manager of Cadillac and VP of sales, service and marketing at GM. LaNeve also was CMO at Allstate Corp. from 2009 to 2012, where he helped create the insurer’s “Mayhem” ad campaign.

 

“Mark LaNeve has been a tireless advocate for customers and dealers and helped lead Ford over the last six years to improved dealer relations and record sales of F-Series pickups while improving the retail experience,” Galhotra said. “In this extraordinary year, Mark and his team did a great job of safeguarding dealers and customers as well as increasing market share. He leaves a strong foundation from which to build on and take the Ford brand to new levels for customers and dealers.”

 

Michael Martinez is a reporter for Automotive News.

14280: Ford Fiasco.

In April, shortly after WPP Founder Sir Martin Sorrell resigned from his overpaid position, Adweek reported longtime client Ford launched a global creative review. To close out August, Advertising Age and Adweek reported Wieden + Kennedy will drive the automaker’s upcoming Fall brand campaign. Looks like Sorrell managed to make a clean getaway from the inevitable car wreck—and he sped off without the services of his disgruntled ex-chauffeur to boot. To recap, Sorrell erected a White advertising agency to exclusively service the Ford account. The build-a-shop tactic has not been overly successful, as evidenced by Enfatico and Cavalry. It underscores how holding companies have ultimately fueled the commoditization of creativity, where sister shops within networks are generic and mediocre clones. And it’s no surprise that a clearly superior creative shop like Wieden + Kennedy—which is independent, incidentally—can beat the typical holding company competitors. The only other sure thing is that minority advertising agencies will not play a major role or receive much press in this scenario—especially if former Team Detroit COO and current Ford VP Mark LaNeve is involved at all.

12411: More Team Detroit Garbage.

Team Detroit is running a promotion seeking composting concepts from college students. Too bad world-class liar Mark LaNeve abandoned the White advertising agency, as he’s a major producer of bullshit. Another endless source of compost could come from collecting all the layouts of bad ideas regularly churned out by Team Detroit.

12382: LOL—Lying LaNeve Leaves.

Advertising Age reported Team Detroit COO Mark LaNeve is returning to the client side as the new head of U.S. sales, marketing and service at Ford. So much for being a team player. Then again, a bailout is to be expected when adding a fucking liar to the fold. Pity the Team Detroit staffers who must now bow to LaNeve as the client. Hell, someone should have put a clause in the man’s contract to prevent such a move, especially given that LaNeve landed the Team Detroit role by directly applying to his Ford friends. Advertising executives, car salespeople and insurance salespeople are consistently listed among the least honest and ethical professions, which totally explains why LaNeve—whose career includes stints with Volvo, General Motors, Allstate, Team Detroit and Ford—is a world-class scoundrel.

LaNeve Lands at Ford as Head of U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service

Team Detroit’s COO Jumps to the Client

By Nick Bunkley

Mark LaNeve, a former top sales executive at General Motors, will take over as Ford Motor Co.’s new head of U.S. sales, marketing and service as of Feb. 1.

Mr. LaNeve left GM in the months after its 2009 bankruptcy and spent nearly three years as a top executive with the insurance giant Allstate Corp. before joining Ford’s advertising agency, Global Team Ford, in August 2012 as chief operating officer. At Allstate, he helped create the well-known “Mayhem” advertising campaign.

Mr. LaNeve, 55, replaces John Felice, who was the company’s U.S. sales chief for only 15 months. Ford said Mr. Felice, 53, “has elected to retire” after a 30-year career at the automaker.

His appointment comes a week after Stephen Odell started as Ford’s global sales, service and marketing chief, swapping jobs with Jim Farley, who now runs Ford of Europe.

“With nearly three decades of proven experience to draw upon,” Mr. Odell said in a statement, “Mark brings the right skills to continue building the Ford brand while creating a stronger retail experience for our customers, making it even easier for them to interact with their dealer and with Ford—and helping us profitably grow.”

Mr. Felice’s departure follows a year in which Ford’s U.S. market share dropped a full point to 14.9%, the lowest level since 2008. Ford sales fell 0.6% in 2014—a drop it blamed largely on the changeover to the newest version of its F-150 pickup—vs. a 7% gain for the rest of the industry.

Ford said Mr. LaNeve will oversee all marketing, sales, service and dealer relations in the U.S., focusing on “innovative new digital communications and transforming the retail experience for customers.”

Mr. LaNeve will report jointly to Mr. Odell and Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of the Americas.

Earlier in his career, Mr. LaNeve was CEO of Volvo Cars of North America from 1999 to 2001, when Ford owned it. He was chief marketing officer there from 1997 to 1999.

GM’s sales and market share declined significantly during Mr. LaNeve’s five-year tenure as its North American sales and marketing chief, though that slide began long before his arrival. He worked closely with sales analyst Paul Ballew, whom Ford hired in December as its chief data and analytics officer.

Mr. Felice joined Ford in April 1984. Among his previous roles at the company were head of Ford and Lincoln sales, head of Ford and Lincoln marketing, and president of Ford Thailand. He was general sales manager of Ford and Lincoln prior to becoming U.S. sales chief.

“John has had a long and successful career as a key leader serving us around the world for more than 30 years,” Hinrichs said in a statement.

“Among his many contributions, John led the Ford brand revitalization in the U.S., resulting in an unprecedented improvement in customer favorability, and was a strong advocate for our dealers, ensuring their participation in our business planning process and further strengthening our relationship with them. We thank John for his many years of service and wish him all the best going forward.”

—Nick Bunkley is a reporter for Automotive News

11427: Guess Who’s Coming to Dearborn?

Target Market News reported Uniworld Group is moving its Dearborn, Michigan unit into the same building as Team Detroit. Both agencies have ties to WPP, so the cohabitation idea must be a financially driven scheme. Plus, both agencies service Ford and Lincoln, so the spin features references about shared resources and cultures to better deliver innovative solutions to the clients. Pathological liar and Team Detroit COO Mark LaNeve gushed, “We are delighted to have our UniWorld partners co-locate with Team Detroit. This collaborative environment is a win-win not only for our client, but for both agencies, allowing us to strategically coalesce to share cultural insight and perspective, all to enhance the Ford and Lincoln brands.” Keep in mind that the last time LaNeve made an official announcement regarding a minority agency, it turned out to be total bullshit. Maybe he’ll record the relocation as a diversity boost for his shop. And exactly what kind of “cultural insight” could Team Detroit share with Uniworld? Team Detroit’s recent downsizing probably means there is plenty of empty office space to fill too. Looks like Mayhem has followed LaNeve to the Motor City.

UniWorld Group Detroit moving to Team Detroit offices to better coordinate Ford account

UniWorld Group, Inc. the longest-standing full-service multicultural advertising and communications agency in the U.S., announced today that it will move its Dearborn office into the Dearborn-based Team Detroit offices. The move, scheduled for early September, positions UniWorld Group for a more seamless integration of multicultural thought and innovation to better serve Ford, an account the agency has serviced for more than 25 years. The relocation comes a little over a year after the appointment of the agency’s new Chairman and CEO, Monique L. Nelson.

“We are extremely excited about the upcoming move into the Team Detroit offices,” said Monique L. Nelson, CEO, UniWorld Group. “With both companies heavily focused on the Ford and Lincoln brands, this co-location will allow us to work more closely with our agency partners on a day-to-day basis while also delivering a seamless solution to servicing our client’s needs.”

UniWorld Group, Ford’s only African American advertising agency of record, has shared a strategic alliance with WPP, the largest communications services group, since 2000. This co-location will include UniWorld maintaining its separate brand identity while simultaneously adopting and sharing various agency best practices.

Team Detroit leads the Ford account at WPP. It was formed by a combination of five Detroit-based agencies in 2006; JWT, Young & Rubicam, Wunderman, Ogilvy & Mather and Mindshare. It currently employs around 1400 people, mostly in Dearborn, with others in 23 regional offices.

“We are delighted to have our UniWorld partners co-locate with Team Detroit,” said Mark LaNeve, COO, Global Team Ford. “This collaborative environment is a win-win not only for our client, but for both agencies, allowing us to strategically coalesce to share cultural insight and perspective, all to enhance the Ford and Lincoln brands.”

“Make no mistake about it—our identity as an agency will remain the same with this co-location,” said Nelson. “UniWorld Group is committed to providing the best service to all of our clients. We are looking forward to not only growing our brand culture, but also embracing the Team Detroit culture to continue to better serve the Ford account as we move forward as agency partners.”

Today, UWG main headquarters are in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite offices in Atlanta, Georgia, and Dearborn, Michigan.

Founded in 1969 by Byron Lewis, UniWorld Group, Inc., is the longest-standing full-service multicultural marketing agency in the United States. The agency continues to be a trendsetter, poised to connect forward-thinking brands to the $2 trillion spending power of multicultural consumers while pushing the envelope with innovative ideas and fresh solutions for the general market as well. WPP, the world’s largest communications services company, is also a minority shareowner in UniWorld Group. For more information on UniWorld Group, Inc., visit www.uniworldgroup.com.

11092: Lying LaNeve Lands Luxury Gig.

Advertising Age reported Team Detroit executive Mark LaNeve has been tapped for a second role as president of WPP sister agency Hudson Rouge. “Mark brings a tremendous amount of equity and understanding of the luxury space,” said a Ford spokesman. “When you look at Mark’s credentials, having redone Cadillac and Volvo, it makes a lot of sense.” Um, the lying bastard helped drive General Motors into bankruptcy. Makes all the sense in the world—the world of Mad Men and used car salesmen.

Mark LaNeve Called Upon to Help Stem Lincoln Sales Slide

Team Detroit Exec Named President of Hudson Rouge, Luxury Auto Brand’s Agency

By Rupal Parekh, Bradford Wernle

Team Detroit exec Mark LaNeve has been called upon to take over as president of the Lincoln brand’s ad agency, Hudson Rouge, according Automotive News. The move comes as the luxury brand is seeing a slide in sales.

The 54-year old Mr. LaNeve replaces former auto consultant Cameron McNaughton, who was named president when New York-based Hudson Rouge launched in December 2011. In a memo to dealers, Matt VanDyke, global director for the Lincoln brand, said Mr. McNaughton will be leaving the agency in May to “pursue other opportunities.”

Mr. LaNeve will be doing his new job from Detroit—visiting Hudson Rouge regularly—and will keep his other title as chief operating officer of Team Detroit, the Ford brand’s advertising agency. Both Team Detroit and Hudson Rouge are owned by WPP.

Prior to landing at WPP last year, Mr. LaNeve was a marketer at Allstate and General Motors. He’ll need to use his experience to help right the ship, as he is assuming control of the agency as the luxury Lincoln brand is going through a difficult rebirth. The 2013 MKZ sedan was heralded as the first car in that rebirth, but its launch has been hobbled by production delays and quality glitches. The brand’s U.S. sales have slipped seven consecutive months in an overall light-vehicle market that continues to expand.

The model for Hudson Rouge, a dedicated agency set up to serve the needs of just a single client, mimics the way that Team Detroit was formed. However, Team Detroit has now evolved to handle some clients outside of the auto sector.

“Mark brings a tremendous amount of equity and understanding of the luxury space,” a Ford spokesman said. “When you look at Mark’s credentials, having redone Cadillac and Volvo, it makes a lot of sense.”

Earlier this year, Lincoln launched a big advertising push for the MKZ that included two 30-second spots on the Super Bowl. That included one ad featuring late night host Jimmy Fallon and another, called “Phoenix,” which took bits and pieces from a long-running 60-second ad, with the addition of an MKZ bursting from an old Lincoln Town Car.

While the spots were intended to help elevate consideration of Lincoln cars, at the time, dealers did not have any cars to sell. Now that more cars are flowing into dealerships, Lincoln is ramping up its advertising again this month. There are now around 4,000 MKZs at dealerships, though there are some geographical areas with more cars than others.

Mr. LaNeve, who is widely regarded as a “dealer guy,” started his marketing career at GM and was credited with reviving the Cadillac brand. After rising to the post of brand manager for the Pontiac Bonneville in 1995, LaNeve left GM in 1997 to become VP-marketing and later CEO of Volvo Cars of North America, then owned by Ford.

In 2001 he returned to GM as general manager of Cadillac. In 2004, he became GM’s North America VP-of sales, service and marketing. A few months after GM declared bankruptcy in 2009, he left to become chief marketing officer for Allstate Corp. in Northbrook, Ill. There he oversaw creation of the insurance company’s “Mayhem” advertising campaign.

10943: Automotive Diversity Scorecard B.S.

Target Market News reported Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition, along with Citizenship Education Fund, surveyed automakers on benchmarks and best practices related to diversity. The Automotive Diversity Scorecard presented stoplight ratings as follows:

Green: Best Practices automotive company for ethnic diversity. Companies that provided full disclosure of goals, initiatives and dollar investments with some accountability and growth.

Yellow: Some indication of ethnic diversity evident. Dollar investments, key figures and other scorecard factors undisclosed.

Red: Diversity initiatives and investments well below the norm. Did not provide enough relevant information for scoring. Did not submit a completed questionnaire.

In the category of Advertising, the grades were as follows:

Green: Ford, Toyota, General Motors and Chrysler

Yellow: BMW, Honda and Volkswagen

Red: Subaru, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia and Mercedes Benz (Mercedes Benz did not respond to the survey)

Really? Jackson must have been grading on quite a curve to award Green to any car corporation. If the automakers’ AORs were part of the computations, the ratings system would have required adding another grade below Red. General Motors deserves a lifetime fail for dumping its minority advertising agencies in 2007. Hell, that Ford AOR Team Detroit employs Mark LaNeve should have warranted an instant asterisk and demerit. It’s also common knowledge that minority advertising agencies and multicultural marketing receive substandard funding compared to White agencies and “general-market” initiatives—so the highest grade given to any company in the advertising category should have been Red-minus.

10893: Mentioning Mark LaNeve.

AgencySpy reported Team Detroit cut staffers last week. The comments included, “Someone has to pay for [Mark LaNeve’s] salary.” Hey, let’s not forget his 2013 Ford Explorer too. It’s like old times for the liar whose last car gig involved helping drive General Motors into bankruptcy.

10852: More Lies From General Motors.

Advertising Age reported on the inevitable downfall of Commonwealth, as General Motors shifted its Chevy Silverado advertising duties from Goodby Silverstein & Partners to Leo Burnett. It looks like another example of Corporate Cultural Collusion between clients and agencies, although Omnicom wasn’t able to keep the business within the network. When former GM Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick was replaced by Alan Batey in August, the new CMO insisted there would be no changes regarding Commonwealth or other agencies. Batey is clearly a graduate of the Mark LaNeve School of Fucking Liars. But that’s to be expected from glorified car salesmen.

GM Moves Chevy Silverado Ad Duties to Publicis’ Leo Burnett

First Big Ad Move Since Ewanick Departure Shifts Big Brand Out of Commonwealth Fold

By Rupal Parekh, Mike Colias

General Motors Co. is taking lead advertising duties for the Chevy Silverado, currently handled by Commonwealth—the new Detroit-based structure composed of teams from Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group of Cos.—and moving those responsibilities to Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett in Chicago. The shift is expected to take effect as of January.

As a result, all creative advertising duties for trucks is now aligned under Leo Burnett, which has long handled ad duties for the GMC and Buick brands. The move could allow GM to more effectively market trucks as a category.

At the same time, the change under Mr. Batey, who was formerly Chevy’s VP-sales and service, begs the question of whether cracks are beginning to show in a structure that Omnicom and Interpublic created for GM back in March. More specifically, that GM is unhappy with a portion of the work on Chevy from Goodby Silverstein & Partners, which had been brought in by previous marketing chief Joel Ewanick.

When he took the reins from Mr. Ewanick back in August, Mr. Batey insisted that there’d be no impact on Commonwealth or any other agency relationships.

GM Director-Product and Brand Communications Pat Morrissey said the shift was being made to alleviate some of the workload for Commonwealth, which will launch about 24 new or significantly enhanced vehicles next year. “Chevrolet will launch more than 20 products globally in 2013. That is an incredible amount of work for any advertising agency, especially a newly formed entity that is responsible for global campaigns in 140 markets. Therefore, Chevrolet will leverage General Motors’ existing agency network to support the 2014 Silverado launch next year,” Mr. Morrisey said.

He added that GM wanted to “leverage General Motors’ existing agency network” by having Leo Burnett do the creative on both pickups. “We believe having Leo Burnett work on both Silverado and Sierra will provide great synergies and result in creative campaigns that clearly differentiate the brands and engage truck customers.” He stressed that Commonwealth remains Chevy’s global creative agency of record and will “continue to aggressively work on global campaigns.”

For its part, Burnett seemed to consider the shift a lot more momentous. “Leo Burnett is thrilled to expand its relationship with General Motors, take on responsibility for the very important Chevrolet Silverado brand and build our highly awarded and proven Detroit office,” the company said in a statement. “Although our relationship with GM dates all the way back to 1967, this day will certainly go down in the history of this very important partnership.” Representatives from McCann and GSP either referred calls for comment to GM or were unable to comment at press time. It is unclear to what degree the loss of the Silverado business might have on staffing levels of the shop, but according to industry executives, GSP has picked up some new accounts that might allow the absorption of some positions at Commonwealth.

The move to a new agency to handle the Silverado nameplate comes a week after GM unveiled the next-generation pickup, along with the Sierra, at a press event in Detroit. GM is seeking to wrest back market share its lost to Ford and Ram in recent years with a vastly improved interior and more-powerful and fuel-efficient engines, coupled with more muscular but traditional exterior styling.

Measured-media spending was not available for Silverado, but GM spent more than $1 billion in total marketing spending in 2011, according to Ad Age DataCenter.

The pickups launch will be GM’s biggest since it emerged from bankruptcy in July 2009. The Silverado and Sierra are the company’s most-lucrative vehicle lines—bringing in around $12,000 in profit per unit, analysts estimate—and together are GM’s highest-volume U.S. products.

Analysts estimate GM has invested $3 billion to $4 billion to develop the new pickups and engines, and to retool assembly and powertrain plants. Citi expects the new Silverado and Sierra to boost GM’s 2013 and 2014 operating earnings by $1 billion.

GM execs hope the second-quarter launch of the trucks, delayed by the company’s 2009 bankruptcy, will help reverse a steady slide in its share of the full-sized pickup market. It has declined to 35.7% this year from 42.2% in 2002, its lowest level during that decade, according to the Automotive News Data Center.

Before the launches, GM will be scrambling to clear dealers’ lots of swollen pickup inventory that has forced the automaker to offer big discounts on 2013 Silverados and Sierras (some dealers are offering discounts of as much as $10,000 off).

On Dec. 1, GM had a 139-day supply of the full-sized pickups, its highest level of the year. GM is hurrying to meet its year-end target of 220,000 pickups, or an 85-day supply, after assuring analysts for months that it would bring its stocks under control. High inventories can dent GM’s profits by forcing the automaker to spend money on incentives or to cut production.

Through November, industrywide sales of full-sized pickups rose 10%, trailing the 14% sales growth for all light vehicles. Silverado sales were flat while Sierra sales rose 4%.

The major markets for the Silverado are the U.S. and the Middle East. One innovation that Chevy has introduced as part of its move to offer more clean, efficient vehicles is all-new bi-fuel Silverado 2500HD that seamlessly switches between gasoline and compressed natural gas.

~~

Mike Colias is a reporter for Automotive News.

10811: Heineken Heaves Hispanics.

Advertising Age reported Heineken is shifting its Latino creative advertising duties from The Vidal Partnership to Wieden + Kennedy. To clarify, TVP is a Latino agency and W+K is a White agency. Now, it’s not unprecedented for the minorities to lose their crumbs to the White guys—in fact, it’s becoming a common crime. Culprits like General Motors and Burger King immediately come to mind. There are also the White shops that prop up Latino wings to commandeer the overall marketing budget. Think of The Richards Group and its minority unit, Richards/Lerma, who teamed up to create racist talking vaginas for Summer’s Eve. Incidentally, TVP lost its Home Depot business to The Richards Group and Richards/Lerma in 2010. It seems as if for every Walmart promising to increase its multicultural marketing, there are a dozen brands engaging in Shifty Segregation® or complete abandonment of their minority partners. Heineken VP-marketing Colin Westcott-Pitt provided the following excuse for his company’s move:

“There’s a shift in what consumers are interested in what they believe in and value in life. It trumps where they happen to be from or what their ethnic group is. [Wieden & Kennedy] displayed that they can effectively understand the target consumer for Heineken—demographic elements and behavioral and psychographic elements as well. … We have a great relationship with them from a global and local perspective. To be able to consolidate all creative needs into one agency at that level of quality was very important to us.”

Of course, Westcott-Pitt did not elaborate on the mythical shift, although the statement bears similarities to the cross-cultural mumbo jumbo spouted by executive liars including Mark LaNeve, Mike Kappitt and Susan Docherty. Oh, and ADCOLOR® Award Winner Dan Wieden went from declaring, “Now that’s fucked up” to fucking the Latino agency. It’s just a typical—and stereotypical—day in the advertising industry.

Heineken Agency Shift to Affect PR, Hispanic and Creative Roster

Heineken, Amstel PR Moves to Edelman While Hispanic Is Consolidated at Wieden & Kennedy

By Alexandra Bruell, EJ Schultz

Heineken USA has shifted brand PR duties for its Heineken and Amstel brands to Edelman from Publicis Groupe’s MSLGroup, while consolidating Hispanic advertising with Wieden & Kennedy, which already handles general-market creative duties for the brand.

The importer has also picked Zambezi as the creative agency for Strongbow, a hard-cider brand from the U.K. for which it will assume U.S. distribution rights beginning in January. Strongbow, one of the largest cider brands in the U.S., is owned by Heineken USA’s global parent company, Heineken NV, but had been distributed in the states by Vermont Cider Co.

The move follows Edelman’s win over the summer of Dos Equis and corporate PR. Now, in addition to the new Heineken and Amstel brand accounts, Edelman will also assume Hispanic PR duties for the Heineken brand. The marketer cited Edelman’s creativity on the Dos Equis account, on which it has worked for six months.

We had a fairly complex agency structure,” said Colin Westcott-Pitt, VP-marketing for Heineken. “For us, it’s really about forming deeper, stronger relationships with a number of partners.”

An MSLGroup spokesman said, “MSL New York is very proud of our work across the six-year partnership on Heineken, Heineken Light and Amstel Light. We wish the Heineken portfolio of brands continued success as they move forward in the marketplace.”

This move comes on the heels of the resignation of former MSLGroup North American President Jim Tsokanos. Renee Wilson succeeded Mr. Tsokanos in September.

Hispanic creative and PR duties for brand Heineken had been handled by Vidal Partnership. The importer is moving the work—above-the-line Hispanic, including Spanish language and Hispanic creative—from a niche agency to a more general market agency such as Wieden & Kennedy to account for a shift from demographic targeting to psychographic targeting, according to Mr. Westcott-Pitt.

“There’s a shift in what consumers are interested in what they believe in and value in life. It trumps where they happen to be from or what their ethnic group is,” he said. “[Wieden & Kennedy] displayed that they can effectively understand the target consumer for Heineken—demographic elements and behavioral and psychographic elements as well.”

“We have a great relationship with them from a global and local perspective,” Mr. Westcott-Pitt added. “To be able to consolidate all creative needs into one agency at that level of quality was very important to us.”

The Strongbow assignment is a significant win for Zambezi, a small shop based in Venice Beach, Calif. Cider is one of the fastest-growing segments in the alcohol category. Heineken USA is expected to pour significant resources behind Strongbow, naming it one of its top three priorities for 2013, behind its Heineken and Dos Equis brands. The importer said it plans to differentiate Strongbow from other ciders on the market.

“Zambezi’s responsibilities will include strategic and creative development to support further brand growth in the U.S.,” said Matt Kahn, VP-marketing for Heineken USA portfolio brands.

Heineken USA spent $126 million on measured media in 2011 across its brands, which include Heineken and Heineken Light, Dos Equis, Amstel, Tecate and Newcastle, according to Kantar Media.

10611: A Few ADCOLOR® Ads For 2012.

Would love to see clear evidence to counter the perception that Deutsch deserves a “D” grade for its diversity.

The agency committed to no longer using the term diversity and inclusion by 2014 prominently displays the words in its congratulatory ad.

McCann celebrates 100 years of “Truth Well Told”—and diversity well ignored.

Team Detroit declares, “Work is more fun when you include everyone.” Yet the joint hired the man who replaced minority advertising agencies with White agencies when leading General Motors’ marketing.

Foot Locker salutes diversity while selling Nikes. Nice.

10471: General Motors Steers Clear Of Politics…?

The Week published a perspective on General Motors’ attempts to distance itself from the presidential campaigns. Apparently, GM doesn’t want to take sides in the political fray and/or look beholden to any party or politician. Funny, the automaker didn’t hesitate to encourage employees and dealers to beg Congressional representatives for a bailout in 2008. Somebody should ask former General Motors Liar/new Team Detroit CEO Mark LaNeve if he’s better off today than four years ago.

Why is GM barring Obama and Romney from its plants?

The auto giant is doing all it can to remain above the political fray, but analysts say the company’s mega-bailout isn’t going to be forgotten anytime soon

“Osama bin Laden is dead, and General Motors is alive.” That’s the message Vice President Joe Biden is hammering home as the campaign barrels toward November — and there’s no easier way to make politics-averse “GM executives cringe,” say Nathan Bomey and Todd Spangler at The Detroit Free Press. Of course, the auto giant probably wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t received billions of dollars from the government in 2009, making GM a hot topic on the campaign trail. Indeed, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s running mate, caused a huge controversy when he suggested that President Obama was to blame for the closure of a GM plant in his hometown of Janesville, Wis. GM has responded to all this political debate in a unilateral way: By barring all candidates — including Obama and Romney — from visiting any of its plants. Here, a guide to GM’s allergic reaction to the November elections:

Why is GM so skittish about the election?

GM is “loath to appear siding with one party or another,” since it relies on all “Americans to buy its products,” says Fox News. And with the government still holding a 32 percent stake in the company, GM doesn’t want to be known as “Government Motors,” as some conservatives have dubbed it. “It’s an understatement to say we can’t wait for November to get here,” Bob Ferguson, GM’s vice president for global public policy, tells Bomey and Spangler.

Is its no-candidate policy unique?

No. Chrysler also announced that it would no longer allow candidates at its plants. However, Chrysler has repaid the aid it received from the government, and has played a smaller role in the debate over the auto bailout. Ford, which survived the recession without a bailout, has long barred candidates from its properties. GM has also taken the further step of telling Obama and Romney that they can’t feature footage of GM plants in their advertisements.

Are Obama and Romney going to back off?

No. The auto bailout is expected to be brought up constantly at the Democratic National Convention in early September, since the White House believes it’s a popular policy among swing voters, particularly in the battleground state of Ohio. Romney, meanwhile, is expected to continue attacking Obama for “crony capitalism” and wasting taxpayer dollars. (It bears remembering that the auto bailout began in 2008, under President Bush, and was broadened when Obama got into office.)

Will GM’s strategy work?

Probably not. GM’s strategy of duck-and-cover is pretty pointless — “there really isn’t any place to hide,” says Ted Reed at The Street. The company is going to be “dragged into a dysfunctional political system” whether it likes it or not, since “banning candidates from GM plants isn’t going to make the auto bailout any less of a contentious issue.”

Sources: CNN, The Detroit Free Press, Fox News, The Huffington Post, The Street

10468: LaNeve LaBor Day Weekend Laughs.

MultiCultClassics isn’t the only one thinking new Team Detroit CEO Mark LaNeve is a slimy idiot.

In 2008, Ray Wert at Jalopnik had fun with LaNeve’s email to GM dealers asking them to call their representatives in Congress and beg for bailout support.

Additionally, Robert Farago at The Truth About Cars likened LaNeve to Curly Howard of The Three Stooges.

In 2009, Farago examined letters from LaNeve to GM dealers. By October, Farago was declaring, “Mark LaNeve is Insane.”

Meanwhile, blogger Chris Preston ripped LaNeve after receiving junk mail from the former GM executive:

This guy sent me a “letter” this week. His name is Mark LaNeve. He’s the North American Vice President of Sales, Services and Marketing for General Motors. Please note the cufflinks.

The letter I received was all happy talk about how GM is working so hard to serve my needs and how committed they are to being my car company of choice in the future or something. I tossed the letter out after the third paragraph, which was calling my attention to the Aveo, the new model that GM is introducing “in the compact car segment for 2009.”

The “compact car segment"?” Is this the way you talk to your friends? (Ol’ Mark probably does, when he and his buddies tee off while laughing about customer demographics…) Mark sees me as a profit source because I’m someone who’s already bought. It’s his responsibility to get me to buy again. However, he made the mistake of assuming that I give a damn about his “brand” and that I feel that he and I have needs that [complement] each other. He knew exactly what kind of car I owned, and still pitched me on a compact? Clueless. He didn’t even use the information he already had about me as a customer, how could he care about me as a person? What he should have done was connect with me, make himself available to me personally and explain how my concerns and his are similar. Wasted paper and postage, Mark. You’re just a dinosaur, man. Your day is in the past. Sorry pal. Nice tie.

10465: More Mark LaNeve LaBullshit.

Advertising Age reported fresh details on former General Motors Liar/new Team Detroit CEO Mark LaNeve. According to the article, within an hour of signing his contract, LaNeve bought a white 2013 Ford Explorer. Not sure if there is symbolism behind the color. LaNeve probably views himself as a white knight; however, he’s just a typical corporate White man. The purchase undoubtedly lifted the morale of his agency’s staff. There’s nothing like seeing the new boss shower himself with expensive gifts.

The piece also revealed that LaNeve landed his position at Team Detroit after first emailing his resume directly to Ford. The executives at Ford didn’t have any openings for LaNeve, but they told Team Detroit CEO Satish Korde to call the jobseeker. The buddy system is alive and well in the auto and advertising industries.

The funniest line in the article: Ford is banking on Mr. LaNeve’s luxury car experience. Um, the last car company to employ LaNeve went bankrupt.

It should be interesting to see how LaNeve partners with Ford’s minority advertising agencies. After all, the man fired GM’s minority shops—handing the work over to White agencies—despite publicly fibbing that such a move would never happen. Hey, he could duplicate the scheme at Team Detroit under the guise of creating cross-cultural capabilities.

Throughout the interview, LaNeve sounds more like a client than an adman. Honestly, is the moron really qualified for the role? The guy has spent his entire career telling agencies what to do. What happens when Ford brand managers instruct him to kiss their asses? Can’t help but think that LaNeve joining Team Detroit will lead to a total car wreck.

LaNeve’s First Task for Ford: Revitalize Lincoln

Agency, Marketer Banking on His Luxury Experience

By Jamie LaReau

Mark LaNeve’s first priorities with Ford Motor Co.’s ad agency are to build its global dealer advertising groups and help revitalize the Lincoln luxury brand.

The former General Motors marketing VP accepted the job of chief operation officers at WPP Global Team Ford on July 31. An hour after signing his contract, Mr. LaNeve said, he bought a white 2013 Ford Explorer with a black interior.

On Aug. 20, his third day on the job, Mr. LaNeve, 53, spoke to Automotive News about moving to the agency side of the business.

His duties include running the daily operations of WPP Global Team Ford, Ford’s worldwide ad agency. That means working with Team Detroit plus Ford’s agencies in London, Brazil and Shanghai, and the Lincoln agency in New York. Mr. LaNeve will meet with Ford’s dealer marketing groups and eventually help build dealer advertising groups in Asia.

“Asia’s going to be a huge opportunity as our business grows, not just on the brand side and launch but on the dealer side,” he said.

Mr. LaNeve started his career at GM, then took a detour to Volvo Cars of North America in 1997, where he was VP-marketing and later CEO. Volvo was then owned by Ford. He returned to GM in 2001 as head of Cadillac and later becoming the North American sales and marketing boss.

In 2009 he became chief marketing officer of Allstate Corp. in Northbrook, Ill., where, among other things, he oversaw the popular “Mayhem” advertising campaign.

Mr. LaNeve left Allstate in February and in mid-May emailed his resume to Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas.

“I was contacted by a couple of other car companies, but Ford is the only one I reached out to,” Mr. LaNeve said.

There was no opening at Ford, but Mr. Fields and Jim Farley, Ford’s marketing chief, gave Satish Korde, Team Detroit’s CEO, the green light to phone Mr. LaNeve. Mr. Korde had been looking for help to handle the agency’s largest client, Ford.

“Mark brings this unbelievable knowledge of an area which we don’t directly get involved in, and that’s going to educate all of my team,” Mr. Korde says.

Ford is banking on Mr. LaNeve’s luxury car experience.

Mr. LaNeve is credited with reviving Cadillac in the early 2000s. Ford wants to rebuild Lincoln with improved products and marketing. Mr. Korde says a new Lincoln ad campaign will be released in November to launch the redesigned 2013 MKZ sedan.

But Lincoln faces challenges that are different from those Cadillac faced a decade ago, Mr. LaNeve said. Today’s light-vehicle market in the United States is smaller than the 17.2 million units sold in 2001. It’s more competitive, and the digital, viral flow of information is much different, he said.

“It’s a different environment, but Ford has a plan for Lincoln that includes a new design language with one product after another over a period of years,” Mr. LaNeve said. “I’m going to learn about it and see how I can contribute.”

Jamie LaReau is a reporter for Automotive News

10372: Team Detroit Lands Lying Loser LaNeve.

Advertising Age reported Mark LaNeve is joining Team Detroit, the WPP advertising agency servicing Ford. For those who don’t recall, LaNeve is a fucking liar. In 2007, the former General Motors North American VP of marketing and advertising shifted billings from minority agencies to White agencies, despite publicly insisting such a move would never happen. LaNeve later headed to Allstate, taking credit for the awful Mayhem campaign. So after failing at GM and Allstate, the fool surfaces on the agency side—the perfect place for dishonest White men. Gotta feel for the Team Detroit staffers. There’s not much worse than having a lifelong client land a leadership role in an ad shop. WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell gushed, “Mark’s joining the WPP team adds a whole new dimension to our global capability.” A whole new stink too.

Mark LaNeve Joins Team Detroit

Former GM Marketing Boss Lands At Ford Agency

Former General Motors U.S. sales and marketing boss Mark LaNeve has been named chief operating officer at Ford’s agency Team Detroit.

Mr. LaNeve will lead the strategy and overall operations for the Ford and Lincoln businesses globally.

“Much has been accomplished over the past year in restructuring and building our business; the time is right to bring in a new operational leader who will help take us to the next level,” said Satish Korde, CEO of Global Team Ford, to whom Mr. LaNeve will report. “Mark is not only a great industry veteran, he’s a seasoned marketing and automotive executive with a strong background in retail, luxury and also the service industry, bringing a diverse amount of operational experience to this role.”

“Mark’s joining the WPP team adds a whole new dimension to our global capability,” said WPP Chief Executive Martin Sorrell. “The great partnership which we enjoy with Ford will be strengthened even further.”

Mr. LaNeve began his career at GM, serving as brand manager for the Pontiac Bonneville and working for Cadillac. He left in 1997 to become VP-marketing and later CEO of Volvo Cars of North America, then owned by Ford. He returned in 2001 as general manager of Cadillac and became GM North America VP-marketing and advertising in 2004.

He left GM months after the automaker declared bankruptcy in 2009 and became chief marketing officer for Allstate Corp. in Northbrook, Ill., where he oversaw the insurance company’s breakthrough “Mayhem” advertising. Mr. LaNeve resigned from Allstate in February, citing personal reasons.

“Ford is an iconic brand with outstanding leadership, great products and an even better future,” he said in a statement. “With several options for returning to the industry I love, returning home to Detroit to be part of the Ford team through WPP was simply an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

7165: LaNeve Lands.

Advertising Age reports General Motors’ Mark LaNeve will land at Allstate. Wonder if the Allstate minority advertising agencies will be affected in the long run. Ad Age says LaNeve has a challenge ahead because “the insurer was recently ranked ‘about average’ by customers…” Um, GM just came out of bankruptcy, and the automaker’s advertising has rarely even been average. Seems like Allstate found the right guy.

GM’s Mark LaNeve Set to Become Allstate’s Chief Marketer

Automaker’s Former Marketing Head Will Take Over Post From Acting CMO Joan Walker

By Jean Halliday

DETROIT (AdAge.com) — Mark LaNeve, General Motors Corp.’s former top marketer, is preparing to join Allstate Insurance as chief marketing officer, according to two executives close to the situation.

Mr. LaNeve, who was bumped to VP-sales at GM from VP-sales, service and marketing North America when Vice Chairman Bob Lutz assumed control over marketing in July, officially leaves the automaker Oct. 15.

The 50-year-old GM veteran, who is on his second tour of duty at the automaker after several years as a Volvo executive, will succeed Joan Walker at Allstate, who had been acting CMO since Joe Tripodi jumped ship in July 2007 for the same job at Coca-Cola.

An Allstate spokesman declined to confirm the appointment, saying only that there is an active search under way for a CMO. An announcement is expected Monday from the Chicago-based marketer.

Mr. LaNeve declined to comment.

There’s a link between Allstate and GM: Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett, USA, handles the insurer as well as GM’s Buick and GMC brands.

The former All-American linebacker at the University of Virginia is likely to appreciate Allstate’s advertising tied to college football. Burnett, Chicago, created the offbeat Bergwood, a college-football-crazed character in fall 2006. Allstate’s newest multimedia campaign using Bergwood broke last month and aims to recruit college-football fans to increase the points for a safety from two to eight points.

Mr. LaNeve will have his work cut out for him at Allstate. The insurer was recently ranked “about average” by customers earlier this month in consultant J.D. Powers and Associates’ annual National Homeowners Insurance Study of 27 companies.

7158: Remembering GM’s Mark LaNeve.

Advertising Age reports Mark LaNeve is leaving General Motors. In 2007, GM presented the most bizarre PR bumbling surrounding the reassigning of work among its minority advertising agencies. At the time, LaNeve went on record to adamantly declare that minority-targeted billings would not go to White agencies. However, a 2008 Ad Age story revealed, “Cadillac and Hummer moved African-American advertising to GM general-market shop Modernista…” Hasta LaNeve-ista, baby.

Sales Chief Mark LaNeve Leaves GM
Company’s Top Ad Exec Will Take on a Position Outside Auto Industry

By Jean Halliday

DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- Mark LaNeve, General Motors Corp.’s top ad executive in North America, is leaving the company, President-CEO Fritz Henderson said today in a conference call with reporters and analysts. Mr. LaNeve, 50, will join another undisclosed company outside the auto industry.

Mr. LaNeve did not return an e-mail for comment.

The first sign that his future at GM was uncertain came this summer after GM exited bankruptcy. The company in July unceremoniously moved him to VP-sales from VP-sales, service and marketing in North America, a post he had held for four years. The automaker then gave Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who had been scheduled to retire, responsibility for all brand marketing, advertising, communications and customer relations.

The Beaver Falls, Pa., native joined the automaker in 1981 as a senior consumer-service adviser for Cadillac. He spent the bulk of his early career handling that luxury brand in various marketing and sales jobs that included merchandising director and director-advertising and market planning. Mr. LaNeve moved to Pontiac in the fall of 1995 as Bonneville brand manager.

He left GM in 1997 to join Volvo Cars North America as VP-marketing, telling Advertising Age at the time that the job would give him the chance to manage a brand at a high level. “I wouldn’t get to do that at GM. Even if I did, it would take a long time,” he said then. Three years later, Volvo promoted him to president-CEO.

He returned to GM in 2001 as general marketing manager of Cadillac after Ford acquired Volvo, and oversaw Cadillac’s resurgence with the launch of new models under a new design direction and the successful “Break Through” ad campaign that featured the music of Led Zeppelin. In fall 2004, GM promoted Mr. LaNeve to North American VP-marketing and advertising, and he took the sales, service and marketing post the following year.

Mr. LaNeve, an All-American linebacker at the University of Virginia, has been known to compare advertising and business to athletics. He told Advertising Age several years ago: “To me, marketing is a sport, so you’ve got to figure out what your assets are, how to deploy them and what the competition has. There’s no tried-and-true formula.”

Essay 4821

The latest GM-related fiasco spotlighted in Essay 4816 inspires a fresh question:

Why do corporations like General Motors associate with general-market advertising agencies exhibiting such appalling diversity records?

After all, most major businesses display a strong commitment to diversity. GM was one of America’s first corporations to establish a minority supplier diversity program, with a pledge that reads, “It is General Motors’ policy to help minorities, women and small business achieve economic equality by fostering and encouraging diverse enterprise. It is recognized that an effective means of accomplishing this is through the placement of appropriate business with diverse suppliers of goods and services.”

MultiCultClassics visitors are well aware that corporations openly hype their diversity achievements.

MultiCultClassics visitors are also well aware that the advertising industry openly admits its abject failure with diversity.

Yet advertisers like GM continue to look the other way, gladly flowing billions of marketing dollars into general-market agencies’ wallets.

This is one reason why people are concerned with GM’s potential account moves. It’s bad enough that the automaker may reduce the amount of money awarded to minority-owned shops. But the greater outrage involves handing the loot to White-controlled multicultural firms whose true leaders show adversity to diversity.

Unilever is currently taking heat over the contradictions posed by simultaneously producing the Dove Real Beauty campaign and the stereotypically sexist Axe Body Spray work. Surely there is more hypocrisy to be seen via advertisers declaring devotion to diversity while consorting with partners whose actions border on blatant discrimination.

Oh, clients insist they can’t dictate the hiring policies of advertising agencies. GM North America Vice President Mark LaNeve essentially said so when pressed on the minority-ownership status of possible vendors in an interview with Target Market News (see Essay 4778 and Essay 4787).

However, everyone in our industry knows the line is bullshit. Clients have always influenced hiring decisions. Dell recently gave its business to WPP, instructing the holding company to create an exclusive agency for the computer seller—plus, Dell named the adman to run the venture. Who hasn’t witnessed instances where clients ask for agency executives to be removed from their account? Or call for pals and kin to receive jobs? Advertising agencies comply with the requests 99.99 percent of the time. And quickly. In short, advertisers could require general-market agencies to embrace diversity.

Instead, advertisers ultimately compensate by employing minority-owned shops, thereby cleansing their corporate souls of sinning with general-market agencies. It’s just another dirty little secret on Madison Avenue.

It should be interesting to watch how GM wiggles out of this political predicament. In the meantime, MultiCultClassics presents a new parody ad incorporating an authentic GM diversity message.

Essay 4816

General Motors likely wants to avoid fueling controversy over its multicultural marketing shifts. But a comment left at Essay 4750 introduced new questions to ponder.

Ludlow + Grand—a blog whose banner reads, “an online editorial about cultural entrepreneurship”—published a perspective about multicultural marketing and GM. MultiCultClassics even posted an initial response. View it all here or click on the essay title above to visit the L+G blog. Plus, MultiCultClassics offers addendum thoughts below.

----------------------------

Are Multicultural Agencies The New Segregationists?

In a society that’s more diverse, more cultured and more dynamic than ever before, it’s fundamentally important to be inclusive of all perspectives. But I wonder who in the advertising industry helps or hurts the cause.

Ask any 1st or 2nd generation immigrant in the States how they connect with their ethnic culture—Mexicans, Koreans, Romanians will say that they watch telenovelas from the “home” country. Ancestral countries still strongly define and influence perceptions. And I bet the most popular shows on Telemundo or AZN are not original programming… they’re imported from Mexico or Brazil, Korea or China.

My question then, Are American-based multicultural agencies the best qualified to produce “in-language” advertising for each respective ethnic group—if ethnicity is the most important criterion?

I think not.

1. Global agency networks with best-in-class multicultural offices abroad are better suited and more authentic.

2. Import international campaigns for non-English speaking American consumers a la “Betty la fea”

3. General agencies have a greater responsibility and role to create inclusive, respectful messages to reach acculturated minorities who speak English and consume English-language media. Simply, ethnic stereotypes perpetuated is not creative for a creative business.

P.S. maybe GM should harness the full power of its general market agencies with global networks and drop its multicultural agencies as was mistakenly reported before.

http://agencyspy.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/gm-mixes-up-its-multicultural-accounts/

http://multicultclassics.blogspot.com/

To the start of a healthy conversation.

K.

[MultiCultClassics’ initial response…]

HighJive:

Well, not sure it’s possible to start a healthy conversation with an argument based on ignorant and flawed thinking.

It’s a bit insane to refer to multicultural shops as the new segregationists. Most of these agencies have been relegated to their segregated, oppressed states by an industry whose failure to embrace diversity inspired minorities to launch the separate ventures. Where are these general market shops with best-in-class multicultural units you reference? Remember, the major multicultural shops have already been purchased by holding companies (e.g., Publicis has Burrell, IPG has GlobalHue, etc.). Do you believe for a second that Vigilante or Lápiz are best-in-class organizations? Tell it to shops like Grupo Gallegos. Or any major Black shop.

Would love to continue the conversation, but your cultural cluelessness on the topic rivals the arrogance of your White bosses running McCann. Spend some time working in a multicultural shop, dude. To be honest, you probably wouldn’t last a week.

----------------------------

[MultiCultClassics’ addendum thoughts…]

There’s a lot to critique in the Ludlow + Grand perspective.

First, MultiCultClassics might have misread the notion regarding “Global agency networks with best-in-class multicultural offices…” The author appears to suggest multicultural agencies abroad should be utilized to produce messages for U.S. minority audiences. Interesting idea. Really stupid too. While U.S. minorities still enjoy programming and media from their countries of origin, there’s a big difference between entertainment and advertising. Plus, you must consider acculturation, assimilation, generational evolution and more. To think, for example, that an advertising agency in Mexico is best qualified to speak to Mexican-Americans is about as goofy as declaring a British shop should deliver advertising for a predominately White American audience (God only knows what the author envisioned for U.S. Black audiences). There is plenty of evidence to show that “global” campaigns rarely translate across continents and cultures.

It’s bad enough that the Ludlow + Grand perspective was hatched by someone claiming to be a cultural expert. But the guy is also a Vice President for McCann Erickson. Technically, this is not surprising, as McCann is certainly capable of harboring such inane, disrespectful and arrogant viewpoints on multicultural marketing (Note: The L+G blog presently features a blurb stating the opinions belong only to the author—although MultiCultClassics suspects the disclaimer was recently updated to incorporate the legalese). After all, McCann declined joining Madison Avenue shops that pledged to work on industry diversity with New York City’s Commission on Human Rights. The agency was probably too busy dealing with the discrimination lawsuit from an ex-employee charging ageism.

However, the aforementioned items are not the most outrageous elements in this scenario. What’s totally fucked up is that McCann serves as an AOR for—you guessed it—General Motors. The McCann office in Birmingham, Michigan, will handle the Saab account starting January 2008.

When GM was hit by public outrage to the alleged false reporting on its multicultural marketing shifts, the automaker moved fast with damage control. GM North America Vice President Mark LaNeve actually posted comments on blogs (including MultiCultClassics) to clarify his official position on the matter. Yet here is a representative from a GM general-market advertising agency not only dissing multicultural marketing, but even suggesting the automaker should pursue the course of action it vehemently denied ever considering. Welcome to Madison Avenue 2007.

To overreact, should the L+G piece be labeled as the ill-conceived editorial of a confused individual? Or is it another example of an exclusive, scheming agency sneaking in its true opinions—and using what appears to be an in-house minority to do the deed? Was GM aware of this latest sentiment? Whatever. But since it looks like GM and its general-market shops are indeed messing with multicultural marketing professionals, MultiCultClassics decided to revise and unveil the following parody ad.