• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, March 14, 2013

A year ago when General Motors confirmed it was hiring two of Adland’s storied and competitive ad shops, Interpublic Group’s McCann-Erickson and Omnicom’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners to jointly handle global creative ad duties for its Chevrolet brand, the arrangement was considered unprecedented and somewhat improbable.

Now that partnership is officially a bust. Goodby is leaving the joint venture that was created to service the account, called Commonwealth, and McCann Worldgroup is assuming sole responsibility for it, GM and McCann confirmed today.

McCann did note that some Omnicom firms including Chevy dealer shop Agency 720 and PR firm Fleishman-HIllard, would continue to work with Commonwealth on the Chevrolet account. 

McCann also said that “all current employees of Goodby's Detroit Office will be offered employment consistent with their current employment terms.”

The move represents GM’s apparent determination to undo much of the work of Joel Ewanick, the brash auto marketing executive who joined the company in mid-2010 and who was forced out last summer.

It was Ewanick who orchestrated the Goodby-McCann arrangement, after bringing Goodby on board to handle U.S. creative chores for Chevrolet shortly after his arrival. Goodby came up with the tagline Chevy Runs Deep, which the company recently said would be retired in favor of “Find New Roads.”

Interim CMO Alan Batey appears to be undoing a number of Ewanick’s moves. Truck brand Silverado recently shifted from Commonwealth to Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett. And Cadillac, which Ewanick placed with Fallon soon after his arrival at GM, is in review and according to several reports is likely to move to IPG’s Campbell Ewald.

GM’s Batey had this to say about the Commonwealth reset:  “Any change in ownership structure should have no impact on our plans to grow the Chevrolet brand around the world.” He added that  “Chevrolet is building enthusiasm around the world for its products and we look forward to working with the Commonwealth team to continue our momentum.” 

A Goodby rep said the shop had no comment on the changes, referring queries to the client.