AUBURN HILLS, MI /diversitybusiness.com/ Chrysler Group announced today the names of five racially diverse marketing communications alliances competing for the company's multicultural account. The alliance groups and the ad agencies within each group are:

• Array (Footsteps, Admerasia, Hispan/America LLC)
• Cooperative (A Partnership, Inc., Concept Farm/LaFinca Creativa, PFI Marketing)
• Global Hue (formerly Don Coleman Advertising and Montemayor y Asociados)
• PASS Urban Powertrain (PASS, Cultura, Osmosis Media Lab, L3)
• SIP (Sanchez & Levitan, Imada Wong Communications Groups, Prime Access)

Racial minorities own at least 51 percent of all agencies within the alliances.

Chrysler Group announced April 1 that 27 agencies from around the country had been invited to compete for the opportunity to handle multicultural marketing for the company's Chrysler, Jeep(R) and Dodge brand cars and trucks. The five alliance groups were selected from respondents to that invitation.

"This has been a fair, disciplined and thoughtful process and we will continue to maintain those high standards as the review process goes forward," said Jeff Bell, Vice President Marketing Communications for DaimlerChrysler. "Additionally, all of the candidates are aware that minority suppliers doing business with the company must be certified or have applied for certification with the National Minority Supplier Development Council or one of its regional affiliates."

The ad review now moves to the credentials phase, during which teams of Chrysler Group executives will make on-site evaluations of all of the agencies. Based on those evaluations, the top three agencies will be invited to make presentations next month at Chrysler Group headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich. The final selection is scheduled for June 1.