The Wall Street Journal chimes on the shifting dynamics underway in the agency world. Facing unprecedented upheaval in the advertising and media industries, big ad holding companies and their agency units are rethinking how they're organized. Under pressure from marketers, agencies are starting to restructure operations by aligning their creative sides with less glamorous parts of their businesses such as marketing …
AdPulp Up To The Scooter Challenge
Robert/Boisen & Like-Minded, an advertising agency located in the heart of Copenhagen, Denmark sent us a neat Christmas message. Click to view …
Just What Every Holding Company Wants
Wall Street Journal breaks down some of the numbers involved in Maurice Levy's Christmas gift to himself, his firm and a savvy group of Bostonians. Publicis Groupe SA's $1.3 billion acquisition of Digitas Inc., a Boston digital-marketing concern, will fill a major gap in the French ad-holding company's portfolio as it seeks to take advantage of the fast-growing Internet sector. Publicis agreed yesterday to pay $13.50 …
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Goodby Spinoff Wins German Car Account
Paul Venables of San Francisco independent Venables, Bell and Partners is feeling the rush right now. His agency just won the Audi account. The win defines his agency as big time. According to Adweek, Venables said, "Nothing legitimizes an agency like a car, and there's no better car to get than a prestigious German car." Meanwhile the 13-year incumbent, Havas-owned McKinney in Durham, N.C., bows out politely. Brad …
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Draft Investigates Itself, Clears Itself Of Wrongdoing
The Chicago Tribune reports on the aftermath of DraftFCB's Wal-Mart win/loss. Observers of the ad business had been waiting for a reaction from DraftFCB, which finds itself under the glare of publicity and seemingly in a vulnerable business position. Wal-Mart took back its account this month, even before DraftFCB had started work for the retailer, indicating that something had gone wrong during the pitch process. In …
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Tampa Time
Tampa agency, Pyper Paul + Kenney, thanks to several recent account wins have brought the new agency's annual capitalized billings to more than $40 million in just a little more than two years. "In markets like New York City and Los Angeles, there are plenty of large agencies with talented people at the top, but clients never know if they're going to get the 'C Team' working on their account after the pitch is over …
The Windy City Ad Scene Goes Cold
Crain's Chicago Business takes a closer look at the city's advertising scene. You can tell by the title of the article that the perception is it ain't too good there: Dream of Chicago ad revival is dashed: The city's ad agencies, decimated after years of losing headquarters and major accounts, seemed poised to regain their fizz when local player DraftFCB Group aced out Madison Avenue in winning the Wal-Mart Stores …
Merge. Spin Off. Merge. Spin Off.
Troubled Chicago conglomerate Draft FCB is planning to open up "an offshoot that would, if all goes according to plan, become a separate, independent full-service shop that would be part of the same parent holding company, IPG," according to Lewis Lazare of Chicago Sun Times. Lazare says the new agency is being created to handle accounts that present problematic conflicts of interest resulting from the merger of …