After 65 years together, BBDO Worldwide and Chrysler confirmed yesterday they would go their separate ways once their current contract expires in January.
Roy Elvove, executive vice-president and director corporate communications, from BBDO’s headquarters in New York, said the move would affect a total of 485 employees in Detroit and Windsor–about 80 in Canada.
Chrysler informed BBDO in July that it wished to continue to work with the shop, but not under its current contract, he said.
The Omnicom-owned agency issued a statement saying: “While we remain committed to working with Chrysler and are hopeful that an agreement can be reached, we now have to assume and plan for the fact that our relationship will end when our contract does on January 26, 2010.”
The agency said it has a “moral obligation” to give staff as much notice about changes as possible. “We have, therefore, today given notice to the BBDO Detroit staff that the agency will close at the end of January.”
Last November, BBDO cut 145 jobs in its Detroit office due to Chrysler’s ad spending cuts, but stuck with the automaker through its bankruptcy reorganization this summer. The agency was named one of Chrysler’s largest creditors, owing the agency $58.1 million.
This summer advertising industry sites indicated that Chrysler was reviewing its fourth-quarter work.
Later, Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco, was tapped for one assignment and Richards Group in Dallas was given charge of the Dodge Ram truck brand. Chrysler’s longtime diversity agency, GlobalHue in Michigan, was given the general assignment for the Jeep work.
The recent announcement is one in a series of internal shakeups at Chrysler since Fiat Group SpA CEO Sergio Marchionne took control in June.
Last month Chrysler announced Olivier Francois would succeed Michael Accavitti in the top marketer position at the company, and that Peter Fong, president and CEO of the Chrysler brand was leaving. The automaker also announced it was splitting Dodge into two groups, one focusing on trucks and the other on cars.
