• NY Times, Friday, March 17, 2006 11:46 AM

General Motors Corp., the second largest advertiser in America and known for being loyal to its ad agencies, it considering making changes in its lineup of shops. In the last three month, the giant automaker has made a few revealing moves indicating that shops like Campbell-Ewald and Leo Burnett, which have handled GM Business for decades, might be losing ground. For example, GM assigned creative work for several Cadillac brands to Boston agency Modernista, which has done work for GM's Hummer brand. That work had previously been done by Burnett. Also, GM's Chevrolet, after so many years with Campbell-Ewald, has added another agency to its roster, Deutsch, which is handling project work for Chevrolet sports marketing campaigns, including the brand's sponsorships of Major League Baseball and Nascar. "We are trying to improve our advertising and marketing performance as one of the keys to improving our performance in North America," said Ryndee Carney, manager for advertising and marketing communications at G.M. in Detroit. "We're taking a fresh look at what we're doing," she added, "and we're asking our agency partners to do the same." The moves are significant because GM is such a huge client. Last year the company spent $2.9 billion on advertisingonly Procter & Gamble's $3.5 billion ad budget was bigger.

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