Chevrolet’s chief marketing officer, Tim Mahoney, will depart the brand in the coming months. The executive announced his retirement effective March 1 to General Motors in an email obtained by reporters.
Ad Age reported on Mahoney’s departure on Thursday. The executive joined Chevrolet in early 2013 and helped curate the brand’s long-running “Find New Roads” campaign. In addition to overseeing Chevrolet marketing, Mahoney also oversees GM’s global marketing operations.
“We thank Tim for his many contributions to strengthening the position of the Chevrolet brand around the world and for the expertise that he has brought to our marketing operations,” said Alan Batey, GM executive vice president, president of GM North America, and head of Global Chevrolet in the email. “We wish Tim and his family well in this next chapter of their lives.”
Prior to joining Chevrolet, Mahoney was the chief product and marketing officer at Volkswagen. He also held marketing positions at Subaru and Porsche.
GM and Chevrolet have not named a replacement for Mahoney, but his departure comes as the automaker works to reduce its corporate workforce by 15 percent. The layoffs were announced as part of a massive restructuring initiative GM laid out last month. The restructuring will see fewer corporate employees and up to 15,000 production workers laid off. Workers at four idled U.S. plants will have the opportunity to transfer to plants where they are in demand.
It’s unclear how Mahoney’s departure may affect Chevrolet’s marketing message moving forward. Under Mahoney, the brand also ushered in the “Real People, Not Actors” with its ad agency, Commonwealth/McCann. The ads have been praised and even awarded for their effective messaging, but have also drawn ire and even spoofs from onlookers.
Comments
This guy looks like what I would expect for the chief marketing person at Chevy.
Glad to see him go. GM marketing in general is a joke and has been for a very, very long time.
It would be nice to see his replacement be a person that has a passion for driving! Maybe even a person that likes cars and trucks! That seems to be lacking at GM, uh, gm, these days.
Tim did a great job w Porsche, ushering-in Cayenne and Macan, great dealer experience. Set the table for Subaru’s (successful) brand platform.
VW – remember that Darth Vader kid for the Super Bowl?
Did ok cleaning up Ewanick’s hot mess on Chevy – stuck with ‘real people, not actors’ too long, though.
He’s a good guy, and a gear head.
Getting out while the getting’s good, I suspect.
Didn’t help Chevrolet in any way, shape, or form. Don’t let the door hit you on the— on the way out.
I don’t think Chevy’s marketing has been the problem (though, as noted, they’ve stuck with the “Real People” ads for at least a year too long; that needs to go), but I would note a recent, smaller mis-step: those ads that came out a couple weeks ago that show real “Chevy families” saying that you, the general public, can now get family prices.
When I saw those ads, it was right after the announcement of the non “allocation” of those 4 plants and I thought of “Jeez, I hope those workers aren’t getting laid off!”
Seemed real tone-deaf to have happy Chevy workers featured at a time when thousands of them are worried sick about losing (or potentially losing) their jobs.
Good riddance! Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Perhaps they can get someone in there who would not have difficulty selling ice water in the Sahara as this guy has.
Mahoney has been great at Porsche, Subaru and even Volkswagen, that was before Diesel Gate. His “Real People” campaign for Chevrolet was imaginative and got a lot of positive recognition for retention. I suspect that lately it’s the product and GM’s customer service that has let the brand down. There has been less and less to be positive about Chevrolet lately. Don’t be surprised if a up and coming brand picks him up.
For all the people ripping Mahoney, could the reason he is leaving is because leadership at the top is so poor? After all, he may have had his budget cut due to Machete Mary’s “Triple Zero” fantasy-vision.
Judging by GENERAL MOTORS success or rather lack of sucesss in marketing these days I think all of their Marketing team should retire. Along with that a few other types need to go too.
With their tainted reputation if they are not going to put forth the effort to design and Engineer the best built and best backed vehicles on the market what is the point?
I hope he takes the “bearded wonder” from the “real people” spots, as he hits the exits. It’d be nice to see a more exciting ad campaign. The latest Ford spots are pretty good. FCA has good ad campaigns, too. Just my opinion.