Despite the lack of an official announcement, people with direct knowledge of the matter tell us today that Austin’s GSD&M has won the creative review for FIAT Chrysler’s Dodge brand.
In March, the automaker announced that it would be parting ways with Wieden + Kennedy after 6 years in what both parties described as a mutual decision. W+K initially won the Dodge general market business in a 2009 review and went on to produce a wide variety of campaigns for various brands with themes ranging from Eminem to Ron Burgundy and, of course, Clint Eastwood.
At the time of the March announcement, W+K was lead agency on both Dodge and the larger Chrysler corporate account. We hear that two separate reviews launched and that the latter is ongoing.
According to sources, GSD&M ended up beating Droga5 and other unnamed agencies in the final round to pick up Dodge but–as per the client’s previous statements on this matter–will not officially be the brand’s creative agency of record. CMO Olivier Francois still says that he “welcomes creative ideas from all our global agencies for all brands.”
This is, of course, the latest in a long string of reviews for FIAT Chrysler. The client most recently picked DDB to run creative on Jeep after a rumored battle between that shop and FCB Chicago, which ended up with Wyclef Jean and the Spider. This was after the client picked Doner and The Richards Group to promote its Alfa Romeo sports car and went with Huge over incumbent SapientNitro for digital.
Representatives for GSD&M declined to comment for this post. A FIAT Chrysler spokesperson wrote, “We don’t have any announcements to make about a new Dodge agency at this time.”