That’s what AdAge is reporting (and we’ve been hearing for a while) as the automaker is apparently bidding farewell to the agency after their contract expires at the end of January. While Chrysler isn’t commenting on the matter due to a “quiet period” until November 4th, BBDO is denying the report, stating instead that the agency has been “negotiating with Chrysler on a new contract” since it exited Chapter 11 proceedings and “is cutting back the broad scope of services BBDO provides, including dealer training, call centers, point-of-sale materials and database management.”
When asked, a BBDO spokesperson wouldn’t comment any further than what AdAge reported but tipsters on the ‘Spy line have been sounding the death knell for the agency’s Detroit office ever since Chrysler started looking elsewhere to dole out its Q4 projects. According to AdAge, though, losing Chrysler after 65 years would be more of a psychological blow to BBDO than a financial one since as of March, the automaker accounted for less than 1% of revenue of Omnicom as a whole. Guess we’ll know more when Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne breaks his silence in a few weeks.