One of the most influential people in the advertising world, 58-year-old Guarascio said the triple-bypass heart surgery he underwent earlier this year led him to reassess his plans. In a speech to industry officials here Friday, he said, "Now is the time to embrace the third phase of my professional life." He didn't elaborate. John Middlebrook, 59, the head of vehicle marketing for GM in North America, will add Guarascio's responsibilities, which included media buying and corporate-advertising programs, such as GM's Olympic sponsorship. Middlebrook wasn't available to comment.

GM for years has been the biggest advertiser in the US and topped the list of big spenders in 1999. GM's outlays rose 36 per cent last year to $2.88 billion from $2.12 billion in 1998, according to Competitive Media Report, an industry monitoring firm.

Because he is a GM insider, industry observers said it was less likely that Middlebrook will make major changes to GM's roster of ad agencies in the near future.

Guarascio, who came to GM from the agency Benton & Bowles, whose successor still does work for the auto maker, brought a personal flamboyance to GM's buttoned-down executive suite. He brought GM ads to more types of media and developed innovative programs such as the GM Card, a credit card that gives consumers discount points they can use toward buying a vehicle. During his 14-year career, Guarascio spearheaded efforts to get GM's fractious marketing divisions to work together to buy advertising. Those moves put him in the forefront of obtaining bigger volume discounts for GM's ad spending, saving the company millions of dollars. "The bigger you are, the more you can accomplish," Guarascio said in 1986.

GM expanded that consolidation approach to the company's entire North American sales organization in late 1998, reorganizing the fiefdoms of Chevrolet, Cadillac and the other brands into a more-unified structure, with all marketing efforts reporting up through Middlebrook.

More than a year later, GM is working to reap the efficiencies of the new structure, focusing its promotional efforts on key brands in target markets. The auto maker also is shifting an increasing share of its advertising budget to Internet initiatives from traditional media.

Agencies working for GM include D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles for Cadillac and Pontiac; NW Ayer, which has handled GM's corporate advertising since 1972; and Leo Burnett, which has worked on the Oldsmobile brand since 1934. All are units of B Com3 Group, the name adopted last week by the company that had been called BDM. Interpublic Group's Lowe Lintas & Partners has handled GMC brands since 1997. Interpublic's McCann-Erickson has worked on Buick since 1958, and its Campbell Ewald handles Chevrolet, GMAC, AC Delo, Hughes Electronics, DirecTV, OnStar and several other GM divisions and organizations. Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco, works on the Saturn account.

The Wall Street Journal