DETROIT – Tongues were wagging this week as General Motors shook up its marketing staff once again. Remember, Bob Lutz held the top marketing job at GM only a few months ago when he was eased to the side and replaced by Susan Docherty. That’s about the time that GM said all the big management changes at the company were over. Except that they were not.
Wednesday GM eased Susan Docherty to the side and replaced her with Joel Ewanick, who came from Nissan. Or barely came from Nissan I should say. Ewanick had only been at Nissan for six weeks, which is when they head-hunted him away from Hyundai, which is where he created memorable advertising that helped Hyundai double its sales.
I’ve got to believe that everybody at Nissan is hopping mad to see somebody at that level leave the company after only six weeks. Ewanick has to be the hottest property in the business right now, but tasked with turning around GM marketing will show us if he is as good as everyone thinks he is. Meanwhile, GM says it will soon announce a new position for Susan Docherty, which suggests this whole shakeup came together quickly and unexpectedly. Otherwise they would not be parking Docherty on the sidelines until they can figure out what to do with her.
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