Breaking: GM Global Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick Resigns
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Joel Ewanick, GM’s Global Chief Marketing Officer, has elected to resign, effective immediately.
“I can tell you that he failed to meet the expectations the company has for its employees,” said GM spokesman Greg Martin. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Ewanick did not get corporate approval of the partnership between Chevrolet and the Manchester United soccer team, a deal that was announced in May.
Never one to be silent about many publicly-available issues, Ewanick tweeted earlier this evening: “It has been a privilege & honor to work with the GM Team and to be a small part of Detroit’s turnaround. I wish everyone at GM all the best”
Ewanick, 52, joined GM in May of 2010 to head up marketing for the automaker’s North American division, replacing Susan Docherty. He was subsequently named chief global marketing officer (CMO) in December of 2010 — a role that previously didn’t exist within General Motors. The executive served an essential role in bringing increased efficiency to GM’s marketing and advertising activities: in the past, the automaker worked with over 90 third party ad agencies to achieve its marketing objectives. Under Ewanick, that number was reduced to a mere two by arranging the merger of the activities of two agencies — Goodby, Silverstein & Partners of San Francisco and McCann Erickson Worldwide — into one new agency dubbed Commonwealth to handle Chevrolet advertising globally.
Prior to joining GM, Ewanick briefly served as vice president of marketing and chief marketing officer at Nissan North America and, prior to that, was the vice president of marketing at Hyundai North America, where he orchestrated the launch of the Hyundai Assurance program during the 2009 financial crisis. Hyundai Assurance allowed customers to return their Hyundai in the event they lost their jobs. Less than three weeks ago, Chevrolet launched a similar program called the “Chevrolet Confidence Program“. Running through Labor Day, Chevrolet Confidence allows buyers to return a Chevy if they are not satisfied with their purchase so long as the vehicle has less than 4,000 miles on the odometer.
Ewanick’s resignation follows that of designer David Lyon, who was less than one week from assuming his post as the head of Opel/Vauxhall design as part of a larger design department re-organization.
Alan Batey, GM Vice President of U.S. Sales and Service, will serve as the interim CMO.
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It’s too bad they let him go, there lose not his
Well its unlikely well ever know the exact circumstances that caused him to leave, but the I feel that it was something Ewanick that did not thrill GM’s board. And he did make a few questionable moves, like Superbowl and Facebook. And I think we would all agree that discussing exactly why GM was leaving Facebook in a highly publicized interview days before Facebooks IPO was, quite franky, stupid and the the action probably resulted in irreparable harm between Facebook and GM.
Why does this not surprise me…
Babersher, agreed… The board was not happy most likely, and they are in charge, at the end of the day…
That very well could be; but at the end of the day, the board is there to execute its mission — which for a publicly traded company is to (feduciarily) increase shareholder value.
If Ewanick was indeed effective in increasing shareholder value (by selling more cars, increasing brand value, etc.) then who cares what the board thinks? So I guess the question was whether Ewanick, in his position as a chief officer, was fulfilling his duties. I’d say that he was — albeit with hesitation about the future of Opel/Vauxhall and its relationship and Buick.
While I praised the Soccer moves (they also sponsor Liverpool), clearly he lacked the authority to make such bold and expensive actions.
Corporations don’t like loose cannons. Free thinking is not approved in big corporations. So he had to go.
Ah, the “bean counters” still rule as they have for the last 40 years. The “anchor” on the ankle of potential greatness. Perhaps he was akin to “John DeLorean” back in the “day”. Just “sayin”. After being associated with GM for nearly 45 years, the “clash of egos” continues. They will never get it correct.
This was the article that Joel Ewanick tweeted himself. Must have the most truthful and accurate information…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444860104577557071263854622.html
He was fired for a variety of reasons. Most publicized are Facebook, Man U., and the Super Bowl. He’s a scumbag, will never work in the auto industry again.
Wow Dave just because people make mistakes don’t make them scumbags. I have made my fare share of mistakes and I am willing to bet I will continue to make them. I have always tried to learn from them. Does that make me a scumbag?
Today’s Jalopnik article is strangely inaccurate based on prior reports.
But you have to wonder if he signed the contract not revealing other terms and conditions that are only now coming out following review of the contract by higher ups including in house Counsel etc.
Obvious grounds for termination if true.
I know I have not been impressed with GM’s marketing efforts. The Hyundai assurance program was a good idea at the time (job uncertainty) for an up and coming brand. To roll out that kind of “return it if don’t like it” program for Chevy right now to me is absurd? To me it says your not confident in your product. Also, in my opinion, GM has missed a golden oppurtunity to re-invent Buick in NA. The products themselves are no longer Park Ave, Lesabre and Century, but the way they are promoted, the website, the colors offered, the packaging of the vehicles, the whole vibe of the brand is still very, very stale if you ask me.
Quite frankly, to me, Cadillac is the only GM brand with a clear plan/mission at this time. Chevrolet is close, but there’s still some questions? GMC? When will they ever get beyond the sameness of Chevy trucks? Maybe never? The Granite was a possible move in that direction but was axed. Buick? probably best summed up as, “lost in translation” from german and chinese to american.
LFX323HP
LFX, Completely agree with everything you just said…
Chevy runs deep? Facebook & Superbowl? The debacle over Chevy.com when he first got on? Sponsoring a team without a brand logo on the jersey? And this is the stuff we know about. It’s pretty clear these items were major disasters.
GM is adrift again while Toyota and Ford (sans the shipwreck Lincoln) keep marching on . Shoot, pay me half what these guys make and I’ll give them the right answers just for fun.