Ad Age reveals a choice nugget regarding the parting of Chipotle and its’ short-lived ad agency, Devito/Verdi:
Chipotle is looking for a new agency, the company announced this morning. Its $15 million to $20 million business moved to DeVito/Verdi, New York, in January, following a review. It does not appear to be the most amicable of partings.
“All of the agencies in the review may want to call us or the previous agencies for our thoughts,” DeVito spokesman Kelly Durcan said. The agency will not be part of the review. He added that the business has been “very quiet.”
Some clients earn a reputation for being difficult and burn through agencies quickly. Of course, there’s two sides to every story, but it’s always refreshing to see an agency stand up for itself, or at least be willing to call out a client for its impetuousness.
This is an interesting development. Not so much for the one business in question (though we are curious!) but for the insight into how few agencies are willing to call out a bogus client. CK was lauded or its rebuke of Career Builder. Now this. I believe it deserves more discussion. But clearly fear is at the core. But is it a healthy fear or just paranoia?
-Steff
I took Sal DeVito’s legendary class at SVA back in the proverbial day. he didn’t suffer fools gladly and was insanely passionate about advertising. plus he’s from brooklyn.
so i’m guessing chipotle aren’t nearly as good at buying advertising as they are at making burritos. must be a complete bust.