You read that right. Adweek is reporting as of 5:30 Thursday night:
Just weeks after hiring DraftFCB in one of the year’s most closely watched reviews, Wal-Mart is splitting with the Interpublic Group agency and plans to put its $570 million ad account back in play “based on new information that has come to light in the past two week,” said client representative Mona Williams.
Wal-Mart has not decided if the new competition is open to all comers or just finalists from the fist review, Williams said. The process will be completed by the end of January.
Ouch.
I wonder how many people DraftFCB already hired to service the business.