New Agency Alert: Piera & O’Dell Are Off To The Races
April 10, 2008
What about those press people for P.J. Pereira and Andrew O’Dell, right? Landing them a Wall Street Journal piece and whatnot about the launch of their new namesake agency. The pair told the WSJ that:
“The problem with most existing ad agencies is that they either have a traditional focus or a digital orientation — and either way, marketers aren’t as well-served as they could be.”
P.J. Pereira and Andrew O’Dell, both formerly of the so-called “Cult of Ajaz”, have launched their own agency in advertising history rich San Francisco. The shop has already assembled a multidisciplinary team of 15 that will be complemented by specialists on a per project basis. Pereira & O’Dell have landed $30 million investment from ABC International, a Brazilian fund, and have also snagged contracts from their first clients: Lego, Pony and the University of Phoenix. None of which they won in a review, but apparently, the boys are ready to compete on all levels. Give ‘em a call?
Pereira told Nick Parish of Creativity that:
“We’re doing multidisciplinary campaigns that go from product design to content, sometimes going through digital, sometimes going through traditional advertising; we don’t really care about where it’s going, we just feel like when the idea is right we just know it’s right, we talk to the client and they buy into it.”
We wish ‘em luck. Just one thing fellas… that music you have blazing on your website? Squash hasta pronto. You guys are digital natives. You know better than to have some noise thrashing at a visitor to your website the second the page loads. Naughty. Hope on of those freelance specialists is a consumer insights geek.
April 10, 2008 at 11:22 am
instead of hiring additional bloggers, how about hiring a friggin’ proofreader?
April 10, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I cannot recall an agency launching with $30 million in capital behind it.
I know of an agency that launched with $10 in capital and survived and created hundreds of millions of dollars of new capital.
Wishing them luck is redundant.
With that capital, they can grow their business and their staff through acquisitions. Maybe avoid review processes altogether.
April 10, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Good for them. Arminio Fraga is like Brazil’s answer to Warren Buffet. Hope the cash didn’t come from blow or the Arab Banking Corporation headquartered in the Caymans. Please don’t break my legs guys……
April 10, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Given the hype level of that WSJ piece, you had to think they were curing cancer…only to find out they’re doing the same shit loads of agencies do day in, day out, offering a combo of traditional and digital…whoever’s doing the PR — kudos — sure knows how to apply the lipstick to a pig!
April 10, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I’d bet the release came from the Fund. Dig around and one of the investors from Brazil is an ad guru….this could just be his pet project. When Lego was with IPG in the 90s it was a pretty small account, but it’s perfect for a 15-20 person shop. Same with University of Phoenix.
April 10, 2008 at 4:35 pm
such handsome boys!
April 10, 2008 at 5:09 pm
is the team being complimented or complemented by specialists on a per project basis.
“hey, nice job on that project!”
-specialist
April 10, 2008 at 5:38 pm
After looking at their website, I have to wonder who gets to wear the bigger rack at the office? Maybe they take turns.
Bigger question, what are two sensitve ad guys doing featuring dead animal parts on their homepage. I hope you two ate all the meat!
April 10, 2008 at 6:30 pm
oh shut it! i’m a busy gal and not perfect. sheesh.
April 10, 2008 at 6:51 pm
when PJ was the jury head for One Show interactive, we went to a small bar on the west side and drank Chianti and talked of integrated campaigns. Well, day turned to night and next thing I knew he had me in a choke hold and was macking on me. Needless to say, I have complete confidence his company will succeed and he will be why.
Best of luck to you, PJ.