• Ad Age, Monday, March 6, 2006 11:31 AM

Further evidence that marketers are shifting away from big, mainstream agencies in favor of small, creatively driven boutique shops surfaced late last week when Cadillac moved a huge portion (but not all) of its creative account from Leo Burnett USA to independent agency Modernista. The shift comes only weeks after Liz Vanzura was named Cadillac marketing director from the same job at GM's Hummer, which Modernista has handled since 2000. Boston-based Modernista was assigned Cadillac's CTS sedan, SRX crossover, performance V-Series models and other unnamed cross-brand projects. Burnett's Troy, Mich., office keeps the Escalade SUV, and DTS, STS and XLR roadster car lines. The automaker joins several other major national marketers who in recent months have assigned either all or a portion of their business to smaller agencies at the expense of larger, more-established shops, most of them owned by huge holding companies.

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