- Andrew McMains

General Motors' Cadillac has narrowed its search for a new creative agency to six shops, the client confirmed today.

The shops are Publicis Groupe's Publicis and Publicis Groupe-backed Bartle Bogle Hegarty, both in New York; Omnicom Group's DDB in Chicago; Interpublic Group units Gotham in New York and The Martin Agency in Richmond, Va.; and independent McKinney in Durham, N.C.

Those contenders emerged from a longer list of about 15 agencies that received Cadillac's RFP.

That list also included Dentsu's mcgarrybowen in New York and IPG units McCann Erickson in Birmingham, Mich., and San Francisco, Draftfcb in Chicago and Hill, Holliday in Boston, according to sources.

The remaining contenders will meet with Cadillac executives in two weeks. Based on those meetings, the client is expected to cut to three finalists. Final presentations will take place in early January.

The winner will succeed independent Modernista! in Boston, which declined to defend the account. Ark Advisors in New York is managing the search.

Major media spending on the brand totaled nearly $240 million last year and more than $80 million in the first eight months of 2008, according to Nielsen. Those figures do not include online spending.

See also: "Carmakers Change Rules of the Game"