????通用汽車公司（General Motors Co.）雪佛蘭（Chevrolet）品牌與曼聯足球俱樂部（Manchester United）之間的一次營銷合作成了通用全球營銷總監喬爾?伊萬尼克的“滑鐵盧”。

????一位不愿透露姓名的知情者引述了伊萬尼克突然離職在法律層面引起的爭議。他說，通用高層認為五月底公布的與曼聯的交易“不正當”。該知情者拒絕討論所謂“不正當”的性質。通用發言人格雷格?馬丁表示，伊萬尼克的工作表現未能達到公司的預期。周日，伊萬尼克離職。但他本人并未發表任何評論。

????喬爾?伊萬尼克在身處困境的通用汽車迅速崛起，并獲得授權對這個龐然大物進行改組，而如今他的命運突然逆轉，成了被驅逐的對象。考慮到辭退伊萬尼克草率的時機選擇和含糊不清的理由，不由讓人們想起另外一位營銷總監的命運——同樣雄心勃勃的朱麗?羅姆。她曾對克萊斯勒（Chrysler）進行改組，但在下一家雇主沃爾瑪（Wal-Mart），她卻發現自己卷入了爭議當中。（當然，兩個案例的具體情況各不相同。）自從2009年宣布破產，并在美國財政部援助下完成重組之后，通用汽車一直在努力對剩下的四個美國車型進行品牌重塑——雪佛蘭、凱迪拉克（Cadillac）、別克（Buick）和GMC。通用高管稱，伊萬尼克帶來了富有想象力的、打破傳統的領導方式，對汽車廣告與營銷的固有觀念都帶來了沖擊。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碗（Super Bowl）的廣告業務，這些舉措都吸引了媒體的關注，但同時也引發了爭議。之前，通用汽車投入海量資金，為眾多重復的品牌投放各種節目廣告、促銷廣告和贊助廣告。

????按照伊萬尼克的構想，與曼聯的合作將幫助雪佛蘭成為一個全球品牌，而不是僅僅只是盤踞在北美市場。通用在歐洲的德國歐寶品牌正處于困境，而中國的首次購車消費者規模正在不斷擴大。因此，伊萬尼克與他的團隊當時把目標瞄向了足球迷，希望打動世界上人數最多的團體運動觀眾群。雪佛蘭的蝴蝶結型Logo將出現在曼聯比賽的現場；此外，通用還同意贊助在中國舉辦雪佛蘭杯足球賽。

????眼下，52歲的伊萬尼克離開通用之后，負責銷售和營銷的高管們要接過他的擔子。通用汽車美國銷售與服務部門主管艾倫?貝蒂將暫時接任他的職位。

????過去三年，伊萬尼克迅速崛起，可謂一帆風順。他先是在韓國現代汽車（Hyundai）擔任營銷總監，之后又前往日產汽車公司（Nissan）擔任相同的職位。2010年，他在日產尚未開始大展拳腳，便收到通用汽車的邀請。通用首席執行官丹尼爾?艾克森將他從北美營銷總監提升為全球營銷總監，負責所有品牌，監督全球最大的廣告預算，金額預計達到45億美元。艾克森對通用管理層進行了調整，以為公司注入“緊迫感”的名義，辭退了多位長期任職的高管。目前，美國政府擁有通用汽車26%的股份。

????2008年金融危機之后，洛杉磯人伊萬尼克獲得了韓國現代汽車的青睞。他幫助公司設計了“現代汽車失業回購保障計劃”，這項計劃保證，若消費者失業，現代汽車將購回新購的車輛。雖然計劃成本不高，卻極大幫助了美國的現代汽車經銷商，使這家韓國汽車制造商在美國的市場份額大幅增加。

????過去的一個月，艾克森曾對伊萬尼克的工作大加贊揚，并公開將他的工作表現評為“優秀”。這一系列事件，以及艾克森的表述均表明，與曼聯的合作問題逐漸明朗，并且很快就水落石出——在此期間，通用并沒未對對伊萬尼克有何微詞，而是允許他繼續留在工作崗位上。對于這一做法，到目前為止，通用拒絕透露更多信息。

????按照汽車行業的慣例，伊萬尼克可能會得到一筆經濟補償，但不能為競爭對手效力。但這樣一份協議并不能阻止他在廣告業或公司營銷領域卷土重來。

????譯者：劉進龍/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.