Element 79’s Rough Waters
March 10, 2008
UPDATE: Sorry. A tipster just pointed out that Element lost the Frito-Lay business on Friday. THANKS whoever you are!
Element 79 is one of those agencies that flies beneath the radar. It’s just big enough to get some play in the major publications, but small enough that they miss the beating dissecting eye of media. Well, normally. Lewis Lazare, the Czar of Chicago advertising media, has decided to take a closer look today:
“Rumors swirled Thursday about the impending loss of some major accounts at the agency. Sources said Element 79 could be poised to lose both the Gatorade and Tropicana orange juice accounts. They are two of the agency’s most high-profile, prestigious accounts, though ad spending on Tropicana has dropped the past couple of years. One source said the Gatorade account had been quietly put into review. Another source described the agency’s status on both Gatorade and Tropicana as “squirrelly.” Sources also said the agency apparently hasn’t been informed any review is in progress.”
If you recall, Element lost the Propel fitness water account to Goodby. Our own sources say that Pepsico will more than likely shift other accounts to the GS headquarters. The shop does have other accounts including Champion Athletic Wear, Children’s Memorial Hospital, Del Monte Foods, Frito Lay, Ladies Professional Golf Association, Leap Wireless, United States Soccer Federation and YUM! Brands. Yet, that Gatorade and Tropicana business ain’t no small thing. The shop currently hold 235 staffers. Are lay-offs to come?
March 10, 2008 at 7:33 pm
If E79 lost Gatorade and/or Tropicana that would be a hell of a blow. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for Chicago advertising.
March 10, 2008 at 8:02 pm
fuck Brian Willaims! He deserves to be thrown out of town for the unprofessional things he did to get element 79 started. It cost FCB a lot of jobs while that sniveling little shit made a $$ deal with Omnicom via his brother in-law, ceo of Quaker/Pepsico. He ruined FCB, forced them to look for partners.
March 10, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Well I’m a fan of dennis Ryan’s and threre’s a lot of good people there…
March 10, 2008 at 8:26 pm
[...] A tipster just pointed out that Element lost the Frito-Lay business on Friday (HatTip: AgencySpy) [...]
March 10, 2008 at 8:30 pm
If you were such a big fan, you’d know that it’s dennis ryan, not Dennis Ryan. Because, according to him, uppercase letters are pretentious. But correcting ad websites who have the audacity to spell it like normal people spell their names, that’s not pretentious at all.
March 10, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Actually, it’s dennis Ryan. Check out the website as I correctly typed.
March 10, 2008 at 8:53 pm
there’s a lot of good people there? then why isn’t there a lot of good work coming out of there? they’ve always been kind of a give the client what they want place. dennis is a nice guy, not sure he’s a very good creative. he seems to value expensive production over good ideas.
March 11, 2008 at 2:18 am
Gigantic loss across Chicago. Basically all of the Omnicom below line shops were in deep at Quaker: pr, in store, promo, online, direct. Say what you want about e79’s marginal creative and non-existant planning, they always brought home the bacon for Omnicom. The last few years Ogilvy has been making strides through the smaller brands like Oatmeal, and have done good work. Maybe someone at Pepsico finally caught on?
March 11, 2008 at 2:35 pm
right you are. omnicom loved their bottom line contributions. but their success was never based on quality. from their name to their gold elevators, there was always something a bit cheesy about their whole approach. i heard someone once refer to them as the “garbage scow” of omnicom–they would take any piece of business they could get their hands on–ie alberto, long john silver.
March 11, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Here’s a really simple test. If you walk into an agency and see motivational posters hanging about, well, you’ve just walked into a shitty agency.
March 11, 2008 at 3:39 pm
yeah, i’ve never understood why bad agencies don’t realize that good agencies never have motivational stuff hanging on the walls. the old ddb didn’t have bill’s quotes on the wall when they were doing all the great work, yet the new ddb does–and their work is mostly mediocre. 79 has some of the dumbest sayings on the wall. i think they’re just trying to fool the dumber clients into believing they’ve entered some kind of creative citadel. unfortunately, at some point they have to show their reel and the truth is revealed.
March 11, 2008 at 11:05 pm
I really liked the campaign they did where people were sweating gatorade.
March 12, 2008 at 9:16 pm
I was there when we left FCB to launch e79 and many good people at FCB would have lost their jobs since PepsiCo/Quaker was obligated to leave FCB which had some of the Coca Cola business. I was at FCB for years and e79 did not ruin that agency. I have not been there in years, but e79 was a great place to work.
March 18, 2008 at 5:25 am
ian stewart – ever think that the gold elevators etc are reminiscent of leo and hand reaching for stars, apples, corny but moving sayings, etc? these things can be very motivational to employees
July 10, 2008 at 6:44 am
If some of you are such GODS of advertising, why don’t you list some of the tremendously successful national ad campaigns you have launched in your distiguished careers. I think most T.V. ad campaigns suck, and if surveyed, most of Amerca would agree. Element 79 had some of the most memorable and thought provoking campaigns in history. Put your money were your mouth is and list what you have done. Come on, I dare you……
Just what I thought, you haven’t put anything worth a damn out there. Good luck sitting on the fence, bitching on the internet. You will really change the world that way.