Tony Granger, an avid art collector, came to the U.S. in 2001 from South Africa and helped inject life into Bozell, a New York agency with a sleepy reputation. He’s now chief creative officer of the New York office of Saatchi and about to leave that firm for Y&R. This according to today’s Wall Street Journal.
Here’s how the Journal frames to situation:
During his tenure at Saatchi, the New York office became particularly adept at making memorable ads for consumer packaged-goods companies — a category famous for its dull commercials. Saatchi, for example, recently won an award for a Tide ad that features a man being interrupted during a job interview by a talking-stain on his shirt.
Mr. Granger’s creative expertise helped Saatchi add a string of new business, including accounts from J.C. Penney and Wendy’s International.
Y&R, a hallowed name on Madison Avenue, is just now stabilizing after several years of lackluster performance.
Hamish McLennan, chief executive of Y&R Advertising, is from Australia. So the question is can these two Madison Avenue “outsiders” make Y&R an insider again?
