The move follows the closure of the D'Arcy agency on the back of the acquisition of Bcom3 by Publicis last year. Its clients and staff were folded into group agencies Publicis Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide and Leo Burnett Worldwide.
Chemistri will work on marques including Cadillac and Pontiac, as well as GM Service & Parts operations and several global GM operations.
As well as advertising, Chemistri will handle general marketing communications for GM, which includes public relations, promotions and internet. While it operates as a standalone independent agency, it will also be linked with Leo Burnett Worldwide. General Motors spent $2.5bn (£1.56bn) on its advertising during 2002, a rise of 12.5% on 2001.
Patrick Sherwood, CEO of Chemistri, said: "This is a historic day for our company. Changes in our industry, our agency and our client have converged, giving us the perfect opportunity to transform ourselves and fundamentally re-engineer how we operate across brands, businesses and geographies."
Other agencies that will provide services include: D'Arcy-Martin Group for regional marketing; Arc Communications in marketing services; Vigilante, AdmerAsia, Bromley and Double Platinum in diversity marketing; Semaphore in interactive; and Leo Burnett in creative services. There will also be partnerships with GM Planworks in media planning and Hass MS&L in public relations.
The name Chemistri was previously used by one of Publicis' digital agencies before all of the company's digital offerings were brought under the iLeo brand.
The new unit reports to Roger Haupt, president and chief operating officer of Publicis Groupe. Haupt also serves as chairman of Chemistri. "Chemistri has been formed in close collaboration with GM," Haupt said. "It has partnered with us every step of the way."
There is a growing trend for the big advertising groups to form special divisions to cater for car clients, which are among the biggest advertisers in the world. The Interpublic Group of Companies created PentaMark Worldwide, staffed by executives from BBDO Worldwide and Foote Cone & Belding, specifically to handle its international DaimlerChrysler account.
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