Over at Adweek they’ve printed the 10 finalists in the Wal-Mart review, said to be worth approximately $570 in billings per year.
In addition to the two incumbents, GSD&M and Bernstein-Rein, the others include…are you ready for this?
WPP Group’s Ogilvy & Mather and JWT, both in New York; Publicis Groupe’s Publicis and Saatchi & Saatchi, both in New York, and Leo Burnett in Chicago; and Interpublic Group’s Draft FCB Group in Chicago and The Martin Agency in Richmond, Va.
That’s right. WPP, IPG and Publicis are essentially pitting divisions of their own companies against each other. This review could cost each agency millions. I don’t care if Publicis has a 3 in 10 chance of winning Wal-Mart because 3 Publicis agencies are pitching it. Pick the best one, and let that agency pitch on Publicis’ behalf. Otherwise, you’re wasting the resources of what is, at the end of the day ONE company.
I’ve written about this before. It doesn’t make any sense. What other company would piss stockholder money away like that? I suppose you could make a case for the holding company model, but this ain’t part of it.