• Crain's Detroit Business, Monday, July 2, 2007 10:30 AM

General Motors Corp.'s decision to move its Buick account from one Detroit-area ad agency to another is creating some waves in the Motor City's ad community. Leo Burnett, which lost the Cadillac account a year ago, snagged the $122 million Buick business, ousting McCann-Erickson, which had it for about 50 years.

GM is also moving its $261 million GMC account to Burnett from Lowe Worldwide in New York. That means more jobs at Burnett -- and layoffs at McCann. When Burnett lost the Cadillac account last June, it cut down from 280 to 200 employee, but a spokeswoman says the new work will be handled largely in Detroit, and hiring is expected. "The extent [of hiring] will be worked out in this transition period over the next 90 days."

Meanwhile, McCann is in for a haircut at its 280-person office. "Any time you have an account that large [lost', there's a high risk of layoffs," says Garry Neel, president and CEO of McCann WorldGroup. "It will certainly impact a number of people."

Read the whole story at Crain's Detroit Business »