• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, July 9, 2013

Interpublic Group is retooling Campbell Ewald, its Detroit-based advertising agency.

The shop will become part of the Lowe and Partners Worldwide global agency network, serving as its U.S. hub, and will be renamed Lowe Campbell Ewald. The move comes a month after the agencies, along with Hill Holliday, collaborated on a joint pitch that won the General Motors global Cadillac business. The three agencies pitched a dedicated offering to service the car brand called Rogue.

Concurrent with the restructuring, LCE is getting a new CEO: Jim Palmer, a CE veteran who was most recently the shop’s chief client officer. He succeeds Bill Ludwig, who has been at the agency 31 years. According to IPG, Ludwig is “at work on an exciting new chapter” in his career, “which could see him remain connected to IPG.” Details of Ludwig’s new venture will be unveiled soon, the holding company said.

“We saw the power of this combination in the Cadillac win,” stated IPG CEO Michael Roth, of the new setup. LCE will serve as Lowe’s “primary partner and standard bearer in the key U.S. market,” Roth added. “Other IPG domestic agencies that have been working with Lowe, such as Deutsch, will continue to tap into the network on certain international client engagements, as long as these do not conflict with Lowe Campbell Ewald clients.”

Lowe CEO Michael Wall credited Palmer and Lowe Chairman Tony Wright with leading the Cadillac pitch. “We came to the realization that this is an alignment that makes too much sense for us not to pursue,” said Wall.

With Palmer’s ascension to the CEO spot, LCE President Kathleen Donald will become COO, taking on additional management responsibilities, per the agency.

advertisement

advertisement