chemistri Hires Bertrand Garbassi to Head Cadillac Advertising Creative

DETROIT, Nov. 15, 2004 -- Bertrand Garbassi, 45, will join chemistri as Executive Creative Director on the agency's Cadillac account. The announcement was made by D. Stan Fields III, chemistri's executive vice president, chief operating officer and Mark Tutssel, Leo Burnett USA vice chairman and deputy chief creative officer.

Garbassi will round out the chemistri team that is responsible for the stewardship of the Cadillac brand. The scope of that responsibility extends to all marketing communications for Cadillac and its vehicles. From national and regional advertising, to product brochures, to ride-and-drives and interactive media, Garbassi will ensure the brand message is conveyed with consistency and brilliance. He will report to Tutssel and be based in Detroit.

"Bertrand will enhance our creative reputation and the quality of our work," said Fields. "His diverse creative background and in particular, his experience on luxury products and premier automotive brands, will be important assets in helping us strengthen Cadillac's 'standard of the world' brand image."

"Creatively, we are at a point where we need to take Cadillac's successful 'Breakthrough' campaign to the next level, and Bertrand will be critical to that evolution," said Tutssel.

Garbassi will build on the recent success of the launch of the STS, which was introduced as part of Cadillac's sponsorship of The Ryder Cup.

The aggressive STS advertising campaign positions Cadillac's luxury performance sedan going head to head against the best in the world.

Garbassi comes to chemistri from Young & Rubicam, where since January 2003 he was co-creative director in the newly transplanted Dearborn, Mich., office. There he built a department from scratch, elevated the work on Lincoln and re- launched the Mercury brand.

Garbassi was recently responsible for Mercury's "New Doors Opened" campaign which launched in September of this year and the new online short- film series, "Meet the Lucky Ones," promoting the Mercury Mariner SUV.

In addition to Mercury and Lincoln, Garbassi's automotive experience includes Volvo, BMW and Saab. His work on the Volvo S60 was the first national car launch to take place exclusively online and was named "Interactive Campaign of the Year" by Adweek in 2001.

In 2000, as a partner at Messner Vetere, Garbassi helped spawn a 150- person offshoot agency, Fuel North America. There he was tasked with generating digital and non-traditional marketing approaches for Messner clients -- Evian, International Paper, New Balance, Intel and Worldcom.

Garbassi grew up in New York, Switzerland, Istanbul and Tripoli. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Columbia University.

Located in Troy, Mich., chemistri, a business unit of Leo Burnett is General Motors' agency for marketing Cadillac, Pontiac, and GM Services and Parts Operations in North America.