Campbell Ewald, a storied ad agency that counts some of the auto industry’s biggest brands among its clients, has named insider Kari Shimmel as CEO.

Shimmel previously held the role of Chief Strategy Officer at the firm. She brings nearly two decades of experience to the CEO role.

Campbell Ewald launched more than 100 years ago and signed up Chevrolet as its first big client a few years later after opening its doors. In the century since, the Detroit-headquartered firm has expanded its client roster to include many of the auto sector’s other major brands including Cadillac and Harley-Davidson.

Chevrolet was acquired by GM about a decade after it became a Campbell Ewald client. Chevrolet stayed on Campbell Ewald’s client roster for more than 80 years.

In April 2010, GM shifted Chevrolet’s advertising contract from Campbell Ewald to Paris-based rival Publicis Groupe. But Campbell Ewald continues to support other parts of GM’s business.

Campbell Ewald designs ads for clients and buys TV airtime to run those ads. It also assists clients with other marketing tasks, such as managing social media accounts.

Another market segment where the firm has been active is CRM management. 

CRM is the industry term for customer relationship management systems, a type of software that companies use to store customer data such as information about buyers’ shopping habits. Companies can hire Campbell Ewald to manage their CRM software and the customer data that it stores.

Campbell Ewald is part of Interpublic Group, a New York-based company that operates numerous marketing agencies worldwide. Interpublic generates more than $10 billion in revenues across its agencies every year. 

Kari Shimmel’s appointment to the CEO role at Campbell Ewald comes on the heels of a leadership reshuffle at a second Interpublic-owned agency. MullenLowe Group, a marketing agency that works with Fortune 500 clients such as Netflix, named Kristen Cavallo as its new chief executive last month. 

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