Agency Spy

Tribble points us to a new scandal for the downtrodden GSD&M. Seems the agency is getting sued. The Austin Statesman, spends quite a bit of time following the turmoils of the shop and from their pages, it seems:

“The lawsuit stems from a national advertising campaign that depicts a man waiting to check in for a flight who is asked by attendants to spin a wheel for a prize: a seat on a large plane. A song similar to the theme from “The Price Is Right” plays.”

The client, Southwest Airlines, is also named in the suit. The onus is on , owners of the show, to prove that consumers will be confused by the and say, head to the airline’s website rather than that of the iconic game show. You might think this is an impossibility. However, consumers can be daft. Totally daft.

Agencies and brands are always getting sued. With their army of lawyers, you’d think they could secure this kind of stuff out of the gate. For example - take the Addams Family themed spots created by BBDO for Mars’ brand M&M. The agency and brand cleared only some of the rights with the “Addam’s Family Foundation,” failing to clear incidentals on the usage rights for likeness of the characters portrayed in the print and TV spots. Mars is now being sued, though BBDO stays in the clear. Ryan Bowling, a spokesperson for Mars, said that it was the company’s policy not to comment on pending litigation. C’est la vie.

So word on the street is that Marty Orzio, the CCO of EnergyBBDO in Chicago, has resigned. We are waiting on confirmation from the powers that be at BBDO — but we’ll see what happens.

A bit from EnergyBBDO’s website & PR people on Marty’s career:

“Marty Orzio began his professional life as a high school English teacher. He made a career change at 28, going to work in the direct-mail department of Wunderman Worldwide. His next job was at Lowe&Partners,where he rose from copywriter to executive vice president to creative group head. Prior to joining BBDO,he was executive creative director at Merkley Newman Harty. His clients have included Forbes,Citibank,Sprite,Diet Coke,BMW Motorcycles,United Healthcare and Partnership for a Drug Free America. His work for Mercedes Benz has won virtually every industry award,including a Gold Lion at Cannes.

Some notable campaigns developed under Marty: new Altoids (”A slap to the cerebellum”), Canadian Club (”Damn right your dad drank it”), Orbit, Jim Beam, Aleve Super Bowl spot (with Leonard Nimoy), Lifesavers

New business gained: Dial (includes Dial for Men, Right Guard), Brinker, Beam, White Sox, U.S. News & World Report, LaSalle Bank, expanded global responsibilities on Bayer and Wrigley.”

I’ll start the speculation — we’ll we see Marty escape to NYC like all the other Chicago creatives lately — or perhaps he’ll join the carousel and end up replacing say….Mark Figliulo — the dude at Y&R that is apparently on the verge of joining TBWA \Chiat Day in NYC as the grand poo-bah of all things creative.

UPDATE:

Apparently Marty is bailing out to spend more time with the wife in NYC.

Jim Hyman and Greg Braun, the gcd’s, are going to the main ship until a replacement is found (there will be an “aggressive search” apparently) and they’ll be in charge of the golden boys over there Frank Dattalo and Mike Roe

Even more UK news…and fast food-related too!

Four agencies have been shortlisted for Pizza Hut’s £13 million (apprximately $26+ million USD) ad account to market their shitty-tasting pizza to the masses in the UK.

The restaurant chain announced today that it had shortlisted Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe Y&R, Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy and M&C Saatchi.

The news comes a month after Weiden & Kennedy resigned the account after holding it for three years.

It is believed the agency was frustrated by the creative potential after a 50 per cent stake in the business was sold by Whitbread to US parent Yum! Foods.

W&K won the Pizza Hut business from Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO in February 2005.

More piling into India seems to be in Omnicom’s future. The company’s TBWA division is getting ready to strengthen its presence in India by launching five new divisions or um, buying them. The major focus would be on areas such as lead generation, events, promotions, direct marketing, retail channel development and management, activation and audience development. The first shop to land their will most certainly be Agency.com.

“We are looking at possible acquisitions for retail activation and event management to start with,” Keith Smith, president (international), TBWA Group told Business Standard.

TBWA India has brought Shiv Sethuraman on board from Ogilvy Paris as the chief executive officer to oversee operations of both TBWA and Tequila brands in India. Shiv will be a guiding hand for Tequila what has a had a rough time in India thus far.

Meanwhile, Omnicom shop BBDO has selected two new CDs for the shop: Sandipan Bhattacharya and Manoj Deb as executive creative directors. Both men worked at Grey Delhi before joining the team. The move is expected to be followed a placement for a CEO.

With the inevitable loss of its $155-million Mitsubishi Motors account on the horizon, BBDO Los Angeles seems to be in danger of closing up shop.

Once Mitsubishi leaves BBDO LA, there won’t be a heck of a lot left to do there. And staffers are already on the prowl for new gigs.

Considering the state of TBWA Chiat NY, the higher-ups at Omnicom must be using Maalox as a mixer for their evening nightcaps.
- Agent C

agencyspy.agentc at gmail dot com

Michael Wall, co-founder & past President of Fallon London, has re-emerged as the CEO of BBDO Portugal where he officially started yesterday.

Let’s go to the official press release:

“Speaking about the appointment Joao Wengorovius (Chairman and CEO of the BBDO group in Portugal) said:

“This is an important hire for us, which will further enhance our local and international creative reputation. BBDO Portugal has won Agency of the Year in five out of the last six years and punches well above its weight in The Gunn Report. The addition of Michael is part of an ongoing programme to recruit the very best talent and ensure we serve our local and international clients to the highest level possible.”

William Eccleshare, Chairman and CEO of BBDO EMEA, said:

“Michael’s appointment is further evidence of BBDO’s commitment to recruit the very best talent at every BBDO agency.”

Michael Wall said:

“I’m delighted with this role. High calibre partners, a very strong agency, and in BBDO a brand and business that truly believes in the power of great work.”

Wall left Fallon last May after 9 years when he relocated his family to Portugal in what was termed a “need for a change in lifestyle.” He helped put Fallon London on the international map during his time there with award-winning work from Sony, as well as adding Orange and a roster spot on the Cadbury account.

Personally, I have met and talked to him on several occasions in my travels and he is a cool cat & great guy — glad he has found his place at a good networked agency and will no doubt in time be as successful in Portugal as he was in London.

Usually, when people think of Harrison Ford, they get a warm, fuzzy feeling. They think of years past… Star Wars marathons, seeing Indiana Jones on the big screen, dressing up like an Amish guy for Halloween because you loved Witness so much…

However, as nice a guy as Harrison might seem to be in all the Barbara Walters interviews, he’s apparently not such an easy guy to work with when making an ad. Even an ad to promote an environmental cause he’s involved with.

BBDO NY is currently developing a campaign with the actor, and he has attempted to rewrite the creatives’ scripts himself… multiple times.

He’s finicky about scripts, mainly because he’s so concerned about his voice and face being attached to the project. Not because the scripts or concepts are bad… but because… well, he’s a celebrity and celebs apparently have earned the right to be difficult.

He’s apparently so finicky, in fact, that his demanded changes completely decimated a scheduled shoot in Latin America to get the campaign rolling.

Oh, Harrison. Just go with it. BBDO does great work.

- Agent C

(ed note: ok…a random high number generated there for effect …but you get what I mean)

 Seems the creative portion of Mitsubishi Motors North America is in play again — to the tune of $190 million in billings -  this time they are dumping BBDO West out of LA for the thought that there are greener pastures somewhere else yet to be determined. (They are also apparently shit-canning Omnicom’s Organic on the digital front as well.)

From Adweak:

“Agency representative Roy Elvove said BBDO would not defend: “We were aware that the contract was up and that an RFP had been issued, and decided not to participate. We will try to make the transition as smooth as possible.” BBDO added the account in March 2005.

“BBDO West has been instrumental in the revitalization of the Mitsubishi brand in North America,” said Dan Kuhnert, client evp of sales and marketing, in a statement. “However, as Mitsubishi Motors begins a new three-year plan globally, it is appropriate for us to consider new possibilities.”

BBDO has most recently produced ads tagged “It’s go time,” a shift from the automaker’s “Driven to thrill” positioning that stressed its “J-Cool” (”Japanese-Cool”) heritage.

Omnicom’s PHD handles media chores, which are not in play. 

Mitsubishi was up 9 percent in sales in 2007 to 129,000 units, per Car Concepts, on the strength of the Outlander and Galant. (Mitsubishi is down 15 percent to 16,000 units through February 2008.)”

So they have the balls to raise sales by 9% overall and still lose the account. Of course, it used to be at Deutsch out of LA as well — they of the ads that had the young adults dancing in their cars as they drove through the Shipyards in Long Beach listening to some techno-like music — but not sure what the ads have been doing lately … other than driving sales apparently — the gall of the agency to actually drive sales.

“Luck let a gentleman see/
Just how nice a dame you can be/
I know the way youve treated other guys you’ve been with/
Luck be a lady with me/”

BBDO West and PHD West are singing this tune right now. The pair have won creative and media duties for the Harrah’s Entertainment casino and resort properties. AdWeak is reporting an estimated $50 million annual spend on domestic ads. The duo have edged out TracyLocke and media incumbent Horizon Media in Los Angeles. TracyLocke will retain local advertising work. Who knows about Horizon.
“This is category that we’ve wanted to get into, and to get into it with one of the most recognized brands is fantastic,” said Peter Sherman, managing director of BBDO West in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

This follows RPA’s win yesterday of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. The lady is getting around this week, no?

Good. So very good. Cheers to BBDO, director Sam Mendes and HBO for going there.
HBO seems to always go there. The channel has also launched a YouTube channel, which features full-length episodes of struggling programs such as “In Treatment,” which need to build audiences and promo clips from “Flight of the Conchords,” “The Wire,” and others hits fit for the demo. Sweet.