GM’s Corporate Ads Go to McCann-Erickson

General Motors Corp. said it is changing its advertising agency of record for corporate activities for the first time in 28 years, moving the work to McCann-Erickson Detroit from N.W. Ayer & Partners. McCann-Erickson Detroit, part of the InterPublic Group of Companies, is the ad agency for GM’s Buick division. The company has also handled cross-divisional and corporate brand work. GM said it made the move to consolidate some advertising functions for strategic and tactical reasons. GM officials would not say how much the account was worth. Separately, GM said it will form a joint venture with its U.S. dealers to sell all its various makes and models of cars and trucks over the Internet. Bill Lovejoy, head of vehicle sales, service and marketing, told more than 7,000 dealers in an e-mail that GM is moving forward on the 50-50 joint venture, which it initially proposed in August. “We are proceeding with the next steps required to make the joint venture a reality,” he wrote. GM shares fell $1 to close at $62.25 on the New York Stock Exchange.