The New Head Of DDB/Chicago Talks
September 17, 2007
Rick Carpenter, ex president at DDB Los Angeles, has recently become the president and CEO of DDB/Chicago. Poor guy. The shop was once the powerhouse of the Windy City, but has recently suffered from an exodus of top creatives and the loss of such big accounts like Home Depot and Dell Computers.Oh! And let’s not forget the massive failure of Anheuser-Busch’s Bud.tv. You can’t waste millions of dollars of a client’s cash and then expect the industry to still see you as a player.
In this morning’s Chicago Sun Times, Carpenter gets his 15 seconds to spill his vision, which of course, comes with the obligatory press quote: “I want to make sure that we have the best talent there is, and that we are doing the kind of work that helps our clients grow their businesses.” Blah, blah, blah. The reported didn’t get answers on such big questions like who’s getting fired and hired. Will Paul Tilley still hold on to the managing director, creative spot? Carpenter doesn’t say, but we think he should get canned.
The articles goes on to seek expert opinions. David Stevenson, Chief creative officer Two by Four said, “Who the hell am I to comment on an agency’s greatness or lack thereof?” and Matt Brennock, Partner Fusion Idea Lab/Chicago had the balls to make a comparison to Iraq. “Solving Iraq might be an easier challenge than making DDB a great agency again, especially given how unpredictable and insane this business has become.”
November 23, 2007 at 10:22 am
Carpenter will have a tough time righting the ship. He’s also from CA and has never spent a Chicago winter there. Tilley’s letter to the agency about getting their act together was an attempt to kiss ass to Carpenter. Tilley is the impediment to doing great creative. Since he and Dana Anderson took over, the agency has lost much of their big accounts and never makes the final round in new business. The hiring of Mike Folino was another bad move for DDB. 6 months and he quit. Now Dana is gone. Replaced by Carpenter. Even Burnett’s creative for McDonald’s outshines DDB.
February 21, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Carpenter is a good man. Tilley is the wrong man for the job. He’s definitely no Scarpelli. Hell, he’s not even Folino or Mark Gross. Tilley was Dana’s boy. When Folino was trying to right the creative ship, he and Dana Anderson on the other side of the boat fighting him. They represented the “it’s about billings and not the work” side of the agency. No wonder Mike left in a hurry. Give the job to Gross already.