Cutwater Is Ready To Rumble With The Riff Raff
September 26, 2007
FRS has named Omnicom Group’s Cutwater as its agency following a review, according to AdWeek. Just what is FRS? We’re betting that Brad Harrington, President of Cutwater, was asking himself the same question.
“Harrington said the agency wouldn’t normally “get involved in a
startup business [as such companies] are typically dysfunctional,” but
was persuaded to participate based on the strength of the firm’s
board.”
Wow. That’s one way to start a business relationship off right. Tell the brand that they’re almost beneath you. FRS is a brand spanking new anti-oxidant energy drink with Lance Armstrong sitting on its board. The company will be giving the San Francisco-based Cutwater an equity stake, “which aligns with Harrington’s goal of changing traditional agency compensation models.” Wonder if they worked that deal out with Jeep or Ray Ban? Probably not considering that those two brands are established unlike FRS. Then again, Anomaly (those cheeky little monkeys) got Virgin America to go for the same deal, so who knows?
Besides, beggars can’t be choosers, right? We hear that… Cutwater laid off an account director this week and are down to a very meager staff of senior account folks. Should be interesting tackling some new biz with those low numbers. Still, we’re always pulling for the little agencies whether we understand their logic or for that matter their campaigns. We’re American. We’re all for the spirit of competition and the idea that anyone can succeed.
Tip of the hat to our fav reader
September 26, 2007 at 6:59 pm
If the guys at Omnicom outpost Cutwater could promote their clients products half as well and half as consistently as they do themselves, they’d be hiring staff instead of firing them. These guys send out press releases at the drop of a hat. Seems like much ado about, well, not too much.
September 26, 2007 at 7:02 pm
“Harrington said the agency wouldn’t normally “get involved in a
startup business [as such companies] are typically dysfunctional,” but
was persuaded to participate based on the strength of the firm’s
board.”
Translation: I’m a namedropper and now I can say I’m working with Lance Armstrong.
September 27, 2007 at 3:48 am
If Lance is on the Board, does that mean everyone has to take regular drug tests and wear those cute little yellow plastic wrist bands?
Cheers/George
September 27, 2007 at 1:55 pm
wouldn’t normally “get involved in a
startup business”
translation: we’re broke and we will take what we can get
February 29, 2008 at 5:02 am
x
March 2, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Brad Harrington is a very good guy. I’ve known him for many years and he is honest and real. He just told the truth. No agencies troll for startup business. Lance Armstrong being involved obviously made it more viable. george,
I heard they may have to shave everything, wear bike shorts and jerseys to be on the account, hehe. Don’t hate the player hate the game.
Lots o folks are scrambling for biz right now