Whenever I think I’d love to run my own agency, with all the ups and downs that come with it, it’s the thought of dealing with crap like this that make me rethink that plan. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports on the Pennsylvania Lottery’s decision to rescind awarding its account to Brunner in favor of re-upping with its current agency, MARC USA:
CEO Michael Brunner called the decision “extremely disappointing” and said it caught him by surprise.
His firm announced in March that company officials signed a deal to take over the lucrative advertising contract. Brunner’s compensation was slated to be $14,587,500. MARC filed a lawsuit that said lottery officials mishandled the competitive bidding and sought to overturn the decision to hire Brunner.
The article goes on to mention that Brunner intended to hire 25-30 employees to service the business. I’d imagine they were putting the word out and in the process of interviewing. Decisions like this aren’t altogether rare, but they are kinda screwy. And anyone who’s ever dealt with score-based government reviews knows it can be fuzzy math.
