Commonwealth//McCann has hired Chris Balicki, auto ad veteran and former member of IPG’s now-defunct Rogue unit, as general manager of its Detroit team.
Balicki joined Lowe in 2013 to lead its General Motors accounts (Cadillac and OnStar). Prior to joining the IPG team, he served as EVP/group account director at Leo Burnett, where he helped run the Buick, GMC, and Chevrolet Silverado accounts in addition to the NCAA. He began his career on the Cadillac account at Benton & Bowles and held additional positions at Darcy and Masius.
In the new role, Balicki “will be responsible for the management and oversight of the agency’s U.S. business” serving the Chevrolet account.
We never received comment from Lowe about a string of layoffs that followed Cadillac’s unexpected decision to go with Publicis Worldwide as its agency of record last month after moving its business from Hill Holliday to Lowe, but today’s announcement implies that Balicki was among those who left the agency at that time.
In other Commonwealth news, the agency has yet to reveal dates for its planned move into a new downtown Detroit office.