????通用汽車公司（General Motors Co.）雪佛蘭（Chevrolet）品牌與曼聯(lián)足球俱樂(lè)部（Manchester United）之間的一次營(yíng)銷合作成了通用全球營(yíng)銷總監(jiān)喬爾?伊萬(wàn)尼克的“滑鐵盧”。

????一位不愿透露姓名的知情者引述了伊萬(wàn)尼克突然離職在法律層面引起的爭(zhēng)議。他說(shuō)，通用高層認(rèn)為五月底公布的與曼聯(lián)的交易“不正當(dāng)”。該知情者拒絕討論所謂“不正當(dāng)”的性質(zhì)。通用發(fā)言人格雷格?馬丁表示，伊萬(wàn)尼克的工作表現(xiàn)未能達(dá)到公司的預(yù)期。周日，伊萬(wàn)尼克離職。但他本人并未發(fā)表任何評(píng)論。

????喬爾?伊萬(wàn)尼克在身處困境的通用汽車迅速崛起，并獲得授權(quán)對(duì)這個(gè)龐然大物進(jìn)行改組，而如今他的命運(yùn)突然逆轉(zhuǎn)，成了被驅(qū)逐的對(duì)象。考慮到辭退伊萬(wàn)尼克草率的時(shí)機(jī)選擇和含糊不清的理由，不由讓人們想起另外一位營(yíng)銷總監(jiān)的命運(yùn)——同樣雄心勃勃的朱麗?羅姆。她曾對(duì)克萊斯勒（Chrysler）進(jìn)行改組，但在下一家雇主沃爾瑪（Wal-Mart），她卻發(fā)現(xiàn)自己卷入了爭(zhēng)議當(dāng)中。（當(dāng)然，兩個(gè)案例的具體情況各不相同。）自從2009年宣布破產(chǎn)，并在美國(guó)財(cái)政部援助下完成重組之后，通用汽車一直在努力對(duì)剩下的四個(gè)美國(guó)車型進(jìn)行品牌重塑——雪佛蘭、凱迪拉克（Cadillac）、別克（Buick）和GMC。通用高管稱，伊萬(wàn)尼克帶來(lái)了富有想象力的、打破傳統(tǒng)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)方式，對(duì)汽車廣告與營(yíng)銷的固有觀念都帶來(lái)了沖擊。由于高昂的成本，他停止在Facebook上投放廣告，并宣布2013年終止在橄欖球賽事超級(jí)碗（Super Bowl）的廣告業(yè)務(wù)，這些舉措都吸引了媒體的關(guān)注，但同時(shí)也引發(fā)了爭(zhēng)議。之前，通用汽車投入海量資金，為眾多重復(fù)的品牌投放各種節(jié)目廣告、促銷廣告和贊助廣告。

????按照伊萬(wàn)尼克的構(gòu)想，與曼聯(lián)的合作將幫助雪佛蘭成為一個(gè)全球品牌，而不是僅僅只是盤踞在北美市場(chǎng)。通用在歐洲的德國(guó)歐寶品牌正處于困境，而中國(guó)的首次購(gòu)車消費(fèi)者規(guī)模正在不斷擴(kuò)大。因此，伊萬(wàn)尼克與他的團(tuán)隊(duì)當(dāng)時(shí)把目標(biāo)瞄向了足球迷，希望打動(dòng)世界上人數(shù)最多的團(tuán)體運(yùn)動(dòng)觀眾群。雪佛蘭的蝴蝶結(jié)型Logo將出現(xiàn)在曼聯(lián)比賽的現(xiàn)場(chǎng)；此外，通用還同意贊助在中國(guó)舉辦雪佛蘭杯足球賽。

????眼下，52歲的伊萬(wàn)尼克離開(kāi)通用之后，負(fù)責(zé)銷售和營(yíng)銷的高管們要接過(guò)他的擔(dān)子。通用汽車美國(guó)銷售與服務(wù)部門主管艾倫?貝蒂將暫時(shí)接任他的職位。

????過(guò)去三年，伊萬(wàn)尼克迅速崛起，可謂一帆風(fēng)順。他先是在韓國(guó)現(xiàn)代汽車（Hyundai）擔(dān)任營(yíng)銷總監(jiān)，之后又前往日產(chǎn)汽車公司（Nissan）擔(dān)任相同的職位。2010年，他在日產(chǎn)尚未開(kāi)始大展拳腳，便收到通用汽車的邀請(qǐng)。通用首席執(zhí)行官丹尼爾?艾克森將他從北美營(yíng)銷總監(jiān)提升為全球營(yíng)銷總監(jiān)，負(fù)責(zé)所有品牌，監(jiān)督全球最大的廣告預(yù)算，金額預(yù)計(jì)達(dá)到45億美元。艾克森對(duì)通用管理層進(jìn)行了調(diào)整，以為公司注入“緊迫感”的名義，辭退了多位長(zhǎng)期任職的高管。目前，美國(guó)政府擁有通用汽車26%的股份。

????2008年金融危機(jī)之后，洛杉磯人伊萬(wàn)尼克獲得了韓國(guó)現(xiàn)代汽車的青睞。他幫助公司設(shè)計(jì)了“現(xiàn)代汽車失業(yè)回購(gòu)保障計(jì)劃”，這項(xiàng)計(jì)劃保證，若消費(fèi)者失業(yè)，現(xiàn)代汽車將購(gòu)回新購(gòu)的車輛。雖然計(jì)劃成本不高，卻極大幫助了美國(guó)的現(xiàn)代汽車經(jīng)銷商，使這家韓國(guó)汽車制造商在美國(guó)的市場(chǎng)份額大幅增加。

????過(guò)去的一個(gè)月，艾克森曾對(duì)伊萬(wàn)尼克的工作大加贊揚(yáng)，并公開(kāi)將他的工作表現(xiàn)評(píng)為“優(yōu)秀”。這一系列事件，以及艾克森的表述均表明，與曼聯(lián)的合作問(wèn)題逐漸明朗，并且很快就水落石出——在此期間，通用并沒(méi)未對(duì)對(duì)伊萬(wàn)尼克有何微詞，而是允許他繼續(xù)留在工作崗位上。對(duì)于這一做法，到目前為止，通用拒絕透露更多信息。

????按照汽車行業(yè)的慣例，伊萬(wàn)尼克可能會(huì)得到一筆經(jīng)濟(jì)補(bǔ)償，但不能為競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手效力。但這樣一份協(xié)議并不能阻止他在廣告業(yè)或公司營(yíng)銷領(lǐng)域卷土重來(lái)。

????譯者：劉進(jìn)龍/汪皓

????A marketing tie-up between General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet brand and the Manchester United soccer club led to the ouster of Joel Ewanick, GM's global marketing chief.

????A source who declined to be named citing the legalities of Ewanick's abrupt departure, said GM (GM) senior management had identified "improprieties" in connection with the Manchester United deal announced in late May. The source declined to discuss nature of the impropriety. A GM spokesman, Greg Martin, said Ewanick's job performance hadn't met the company's expectations. Ewanick resigned on Sunday. He declined to comment.

????Ewanick's sudden departure is a stunning reversal of fortune for a quickly rising executive given a mandate to shake up a stodgy giant. The hasty timing and vague reasoning recall the fate of another high-flying marketing executive, Julie Roehm, who shook up Chrysler but found herself embroiled in controversy at her next employer, Wal-Mart (WMT). (The finer details of the two cases differ, of course.)

????GM is in the midst of rebranding its four remaining American vehicle lines -- Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC -- following its 2009 bankruptcy and reorganization by the U.S. Treasury. GM executives say Ewanick provided imaginative and unconventional leadership that challenged staid notions of automotive advertising and marketing. His moves to suspend paid advertising on Facebook (FB) and skip the 2013 Super Bowl because of costly rates generated headlines and controversy. In the past, GM spent enormous sums to support the myriad programs, promotions and sponsorships of its many, overlapping brands.

????The Manchester United initiative was conceived to help Chevrolet become a global brand, rather than dominant in only North America. With its German Opel brand in trouble in Europe and a growing market of first-time buyers in the People's Republic of China, Ewanick's team wanted to make a concerted effort to reach soccer fans, the world's largest audience for a team sport. Chevy's bow-tie logo will begin appearing at Manchester United matches; GM also has agreed to sponsor a Chevrolet Cup soccer match in China.

????For the time being, the sales and marketing executives for GM's vehicle lines will pick up the slack left with the exit of Ewanick, 52. Alan Batey, 49, U.S. sales and service chief will also assume Ewanick's duties on an interim basis.

????Ewanick rose swiftly over the course of the past three years from marketing chief at Hyundai to the same position at Nissan (NSANY), where he was plucked in 2010 by GM before he could even get started. Daniel Akerson, GM chief executive, promoted him from North American marketing head to global executive in charge of all brands, supervising the world's largest advertising budget, estimated by some to be $4.5 billion. Akerson has shaken GM's management ranks, forcing out longtime executives in the name of instilling "urgency" into the company, which is 26%-owned by the U.S.

????A native of the Los Angeles area, Ewanick gained attention at Hyundai following the 2008 financial crisis. He helped devise a "Hyundai Assurance" program, an offer in which the company would buy back new vehicles in the event a consumer lost his or her job,. Though the program didn't cost much, it helped Hyundai dealers in the U.S. close deals, resulting in more market share for the South Korean automaker.

????Within the past month Akerson praised Ewanick's work and publicly rated his job performance as "good." The sequence of events and Akerson's utterances suggest that the Manchester United episode unfolded and was resolved swiftly -- with little or no consideration to reprimand Ewanick, while allowing him to stay on the job. So far GM is declining to provide further details.

????As is customary in the automobile business, Ewanick likely received a financial package in return for his resignation, stipulating that he can't work for a competitor. The agreement won't stop him from appearing somewhere else in the advertising or corporate marketing frontier.