• by Joe Mandese , March 12, 2008

At a time when some big marketers are going the customized approach, General Motors, after years of having its media handled via a standalone unit, will become an integrated part of its media agency's portfolio. Starcom MediaVest Group Tuesday said it was scrapping its free-standing GM Planworks unit, and reorganizing the auto giant's media account around a "more integrated model." The move comes less than a week after SMG announced the resignation of Dennis Donlin as president of GM Planworks, amid the frenzy of last week's American Association of Advertising Agencies Conference in Orlando.

SMG named Ken Taylor to assume the role of president and general manager of the new, unnamed and non-independent operation. Taylor had been executive vice president-group client director at SMG's Starcom unit, overseeing the Kellogg's and LEGO media accounts.

SMG executives said the change reflects shifts that have taken place within the marketplace since SMG formed its previous GM Planworks structure to service the account.

"The independent GM Planworks model was the right response to the marketplace realities we faced with GM in 2000," Laura Desmond, CEO-The Americas at SMG, said in a statement. "That landscape-both in our industry and the automotive industry-is different today, and it continues to shift. Just as the business of capturing consumer attention continues to evolve, we need to re-imagine and adjust our service models to stay ahead and advance GM's market-making competitive advantage."

The previous structure was created in May 2005, when General Motors consolidated media buying handled by a standalone GM Mediaworks unit at Interpublic into its planning account at SMG's GM Planworks unit.

Interpublic had managed GM Mediaworks since 1993, when it was formed as part of a solution for Interpublic's agencies to hold on to GM's media buying.

Now SMG says the "integrated model" is the right model for handling GM's account - which is to say, the traditional approach to servicing clients.

SMG said it's already been heading in that direction, noting that Curt Hecht, who had overseen digital media for GM, also is chief digital officer of SMG.

"GM's dedicated print team will now collaborate more closely with counterparts at Starcom on key issues facing the industry, such as accountability and research initiatives," the agency said. "Likewise, GM teams will be able to leverage expert multicultural resources via SMG Multicultural. The GM-focused branded entertainment team will have greater access to MediaVest's successful New York-based entertainment marketing group as well."