Ad Age is running a story that will encourage adholes everywhere. It seems Cramer-Krasselt CEO Peter Krivkovich had some choice words for former client CareerBuilder after being told the No. 1 jobs site was putting its account in review following a poor performance in the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter poll.
“There are a few times in your life when you have to tell someone to fuck off and mean it,” Mr. Krivkovich said in an interview shortly after the memo leaked.
The funny thing is his outburst earned him the respect of new clients.
“If anything, it was a positive,” said David Pryor, VP-marketing at Porsche Cars North America, which awarded C-K its creative and media accounts last week. “I had a lot of respect for them standing behind their work and conviction. At Porsche, we want an agency that has conviction and passion.”
The Porsche triumph gives C-K three sizable wins since the CareerBuilder split; heartburn drug Zantac and Bissell vacuums were the others.
This notion that abusive behavior is an indicator of integrity has to be one of the most absolutely durable and pernicious misconceptions I can think of. So disappointing.