According to Bloomberg, auto giant General Motors (NYSE:
GM
) has
parted ways with Global Marketing Chief Joel
Ewanick
, saying that he "failed to meet the expectations that the company
has for its employees."
In the two short years Ewanick had been with General Motors, he
made the decision to stop advertising on Facebook (NASDAQ:
FB
) and to not advertise during the Super Bowl. These moves were
supposed to save the company billions of dollars, but the company
believes that they have had a negative impact.
Benzinga reported
in May that General Motors was pulling its advertising from
Facebook, with the company believing that paid ads on Facebook have
little impact on car sales, raising questions about Facebook's
ability to maintain 88 percent revenue growth.
Estimates suggest that, prior to GM's decision, it had spent $10
million on Facebook advertising. Even though it measures revenue in
billions, any company will be unhappy to lose that amount. But it
isn't the immediate sum of money that will worry Facebook the most,
it is the possibility of other companies following suit.
"It's not unusual for us to move our spending around various
media outlets - especially with the growth of multiple social and
digital media outlets," GM said in a statement in May. "In terms of
Facebook specifically, while we currently do not plan to continue
with advertising, we remain committed to an aggressive content
strategy through all of our products and brands, as it continues to
be a very effective tool for engaging with our customers."
GM said in a company biography that Ewanick "was responsible for
improving the positioning of the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac
brands and consumer consideration of GM vehicles in the United
States."
Ewanick made his name at Hyundai, developing the Assurance
Program that allowed customers to return their vehicles if they
lost their jobs. This lead to the Automotive News naming him
marketing all-star of the year, Brandweek naming him marketer of
the year and Forbes making him chief marketing officer of the year
back in 2009.
That's all academic now though, with General Motors deciding
that Ewanick failed to meet expectations. The company has seen him
make some bold moves that haven't immediately paid off and Ewanick
has paid the price for those perceived failures, which begs the
question: will GM's next hire be more conventional?
On Monday morning, General Motors traded at about $20, up
roughly 3 percent.
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@BCallwood
.
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