The dedicated agency that creates ads for Chevy, Commonwealth of McCann Worldgroup, just hired experienced automobile sector advertising executive Fabio Costa as it prepares for the rollout of multiple new GM vehicles.
Costa will occupy the post of global chief creative officer at the Chevy-focused McCann agency, Ad Age reports. He comes from an executive position at Saatchi & Saatchi, an agency that handles marketing for Toyota.
Costa’s experience includes a series of high-level advertising positions in Brazil and the U.S., for both automakers and other major companies. His background includes ad campaigns for companies as varied as Miller Lite, Disney, Geico, BFGoodrich, and Netflix, among others.
The new Commonwealth chief creative officer says he is “reenergized to be working for one of the best brands in the world.” He replaces Gary Pascoe, who left the agency several months ago. Commonwealth has redefined the post somewhat to match its new objective of advertising Chevy “as a global brand.”
The need for a new, highly experienced head of the agency’s creative department appears to be urgent. As Chevrolet National Dealer Council chairman Keith McCluskey says, the Chevy brand is about to launch “an onslaught of product over the next 18 to 36 months like never before.” This “onslaught” will include both ICE vehicles and EVs.
Commonwealth/McCann has created several highly popular Chevy ads in recent years. Its summer 2021 Cat ad for the Chevy Silverado, featuring a stick-retrieving cat named Walter (actually played by seven different felines), drew almost 1.4 million YouTube views within the first few months. The ad was even dubbed the “best commercial of 2021.”
The agency also produced a 2022 Super Bowl ad for the 2024 Chevy Silverado EV using actors and themes from the popular television show The Sopranos. Commonwealth/McCann received an ANDY award in the “Craft” category for the Silverado EV TV spot, alongside two other ANDY awards for different advertisements.
2022 also saw the GM focused agency air another “Walter the Cat” ad, showcasing more dog-like actions from the fictional, composite feline and advertising the Chevy Silverado Trail Boss. Commonwealth/McCann’s ad was one of six advertisements nominated for a 2022 Emmy Award in the Outstanding Commercial category later in 2022, though it did not actually win the award.
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Comments
Let’s Go Places and Find New Roads.
John,
As I read your statement above I’m thinking to myself does this guy actually think Let’s Go Places is a gm ad slogan? I honestly don’t know how you can embarrass yourself any further. Now you think by bringing in a Toyota guy that’s going to fix your marketing department at Chevrolet. I can fix your marketing department in two words, advertise MORE! Let Walter the cat and Bob Seger do what they do best.
With gm doing some white collar cleanup let’s not forget the fourteenth floor. How do you explain an entire career where all you know is year over year market share loss. Of course if you think Let’s Go Places is one of gm’s ad slogan’s that explains a lot. It pains me to see the only legacy still intact at gm is pitiful management.
So, there’s still hope that, just-once, they’ll make a kick ass commercial showing the attributes of a Camaro before it goes out to pasture? I’ve never once seen a Camaro advertisement…
The absolute worst advertising on the planet comes from Toyota, always has, so I hope this is not a sign of Chevrolet’s future.
Sounds like a woke leftie.
Like a rock was probably my favorite, but I don’t think that’s Mary’s style.
I remember when every Buick ad featured African Americans. Young urban professionals loving on their Park Avenues when the reality was Buick sold to people about 5 years away from death. GM advertising sucked then and sucks now.
Unfortunately, GM has to be the worst advertising client on the planet. Their marketing has always been overseen by a series of executives occupying the deck chair, bent on a rotation to somewhere else of more relevance within the corporation. GM has traditionally treated marketing as a necessary evil. The attitude of, “If we build it, they will come.” continues to pervade the thinking of their upper management – even as they fight to maintain a market share that has devolved into the low to mid-teens in the North American market. I take nothing away from their general product excellence. But if you don’t effectively continually demonstrate the many strengths of your brand in an effective manner then they cease to exist to your target markets, and guess what? So goes your brand. This guy can be the whiz bang creative officer of all time. Question is; will they let him actually do anything to move the needle?
Effective advertising is the art of taking a product you’ve never heard of before and making you feel as if you’ve wanted it all your life.
IMHO….The new Chevy Ad campaign / tag line “Together Let Drive” misses that objective.
It’s a lazy creative effort…derivative of Toyota’s “Let’s Go Places”…and does a storied brand disservice. It deserves better work.
“Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Compromise”.
All they’ve one for years on the client side and the agencies is check the DEI boxes for staffing and it’s gone downhill. There’s no “car guys” on either side.