Tweet Spike Lee's ad agency, Spike DDB, was recently named Chevy's African American agency of record. A bold move (excuse the Ford Tag). And it may be a breakthrough for visibility for both the client and the agency.

Last winter, I remember watching Fearless QA, Alex Bogusky's webcast during his CP+B days. He was interviewing Lincoln Steffens of the Marcus Graham Project and the subject of relevant African-American agencies came up. Alex asked if Spike DDB was still around. I smiled thinking I was just in Spike's office just weeks prior.

Spike DDB was keeping busy with a lot of under-the-radar stuff. Sure, Spike the filmmaker was ever-present with Nike and more recently Absolut Brooklyn, but those were mainly Spike Lee joints, not Spike DDB.

Turns out, opportunity woke up a potential sleeping giant. They have a new logo. Their website is back up — kinda (you can only request a reel for now). And their commentary on Facebook has suddenly been consistent. The Chevy account could turn Spike DDB into one of the more relevant multicultural shops around. And Chevy may have found the edge they need to make them relevant to this market. Having Spike Lee sit at the presentation table, Chevy will hopefully listen to what they need to do. The creative team is currently led by ECD Dabo Ché, formerly of UniWorld. In a recent Adweek article, Ché vowed to break from "traditional" African American advertising (you know what it is. I don't need to define it). Hopefully, we'll see smart work that will not only meet the needs of its intended target, but is universally praised.

Which brings us to an unfortunate issue for many car ad agencies (one I've faced myself): Spike DDB can deliver all of the great edgy content it can. They may even make Chevy cool again. But until people have jobs, who can afford a new car?