Spike Named African-American Agency of Record for Chevy

American manufacturer GM is continuing the advertising strategy repositioning it began last year with the announcement of a new agency of record having been selected. From now on, the Chevy brand image and advertising for the African-American customers will be handled by Spike DDB, an advertising agency partially owned by film director Spike Lee.

Chevrolet is thus increasing its portfolio of agencies of record to four, with Spike joining the already existing partners Goodby, Silverstein and Partners and LatinWorks (the last being the Hispanic agency of record). Spike will handle Chevrolet's needs in the New York area.

“We’ve seen outstanding work from Spike DDB for their current clients and the creative approach they offer Chevrolet will be a great fit for the brand,” said Chris Perry, US vice president, Chevrolet Marketing.

“Along with the recent announcement of LatinWorks, we are expanding our multicultural agency representation and emphasizing the importance of multicultural consumers to Chevrolet.”

As usual, the financial arrangements between the two companies were not released. By comparison, Chevrolet spent almost $55 million last year in major US Hispanic media, pointing to a similar figure for the African-American segment.

The start date of the first campaign directed by the new agency of record has not yet been announced.

“We believe we’ve sought out and found the right agency partners for Chevrolet,” said Joel Ewanick, vice president, U.S. Marketing, General Motors. “Chevrolet has always been an inclusive brand and we want all our agencies to help us get that message to consumers.”