Agency Spy

Too bad that this 27-year old twosome are actually at the center of a media shit storm. You see, over at Creativity January and Scott are being credited with work they didn’t actually produce. The normally spot on journos at the mag must have been blind sided by the pair’s wildly Uniqlo vibe. A snippet from the article:

“When Vernon (art) and Ginsberg (copy) arrived in New York in 2004, it was to join Tribal DDB, where they worked on the bawdy “Shave Everywhere” online campaign for Philips’ manscaping appliance, the Bodygroom.”

First of all, Vernon and Ginsberg never worked at Tribal DDB. That would be DDB people. Big difference. This typo might have been a journalistic oversight. Shit, we do that all the time, but as many like to point out, we’re just a blog.

The duo won an Effie, while working at, yes, DDB for their wild posting campaign for the same brand, Bodygroom. They got some mojo for sure, but um…

“Shave Everywhere” was a much-lauded online campaign that took home a Gold Cyber Lion in Cannes and Pencils at The One Show and D&AD. Who wouldn’t want to take a little credit for it or alternatively, let a journalist give them some shine? However, just because you did wild postings doesn’t mean that you developed an entire online experience. Apparently, the pair sat in on one meeting where everyone got together to talk shop about the client. One meeting does not a website articulate, create or build. Steven Nesle (Tribal’s ECD) and Brook Lundy (the copywriter on Shave Everywhere) have got to be fuming that credit for their idea is going every which way. This is a small navel gazing industry. Did you guys think no one would notice?

The rest of the article has Vernon and Ginsberg rattling off the reasons why they make a good team. One reason is that they don’t take the business seriously. Maybe not, but seriously… You guys might want to write Creativity and get them to redact that whole paragraph there. It kind of looks like you’re complicit. People are talking. Think of your future and that other people take their work and this business very seriously. Another reason they work well together is that they have the ability to call bullshit on one another. So, hey… when you guys read this article - who called bullshit on who?

Too often credit is not given where credit is due. You’d think that creatives would at least correct journalists when this kind of stuff happens. Hos before bros? No, no… how about do the right thing? Yeah. That works.

So, um… check this out, yeah? George Parker, the bullying, brilliant brute of a blogger, has been taking meetings with Droga5. Yes, David Droga’s, Droga 5. Why you ask? A little birdy (GP wouldn’t respond for comment) told us that George is the latest addition to a roster of consultants the shop employs. One has to wonder… how much does George charge for a bit of wisdom laces with sweet sticky vitriol?

We hope the Mr. Parker is telling them what shit Honeyshed has turned out to be. How the site tries so hard to be cool that it has completely missed the mark. How they should really think about revamping the entire site’s content to actually, you know, be cool. Oh wait, he already did that. That explains everything doesn’t it? Parker should just curse out everyone who he thinks can pay his bills. Surely, they’ll do like David Droga and pony up the cash.

Rhapsody America has named Droga5 its United States brand advertising agency and Optimedia U.S., part of the ZenithOptimedia unit of the Publicis Groupe, as media planning agency. MTV said last year that the marketing budget for Rhapsody would total about $230 million over five years.

The newest Droga5-produced Rhapsody spot begins airing this week and features music from Throw Me the Statue. Just. Love. This band. The spot highlights how Rhapsody weaves music throughout everyday life. The new creative builds on the current work the shop has produced for the brand (see it above) featuring emerging artist Sara Bareilles.

[source]

Disney is “is looking for BIG ideas that break the traditional movie-marketing concepts,” according to a document issued to agencies that Brandweek got its hands upon. This brief goes on to say that Disney “will pay $50,000 for your time and own all your ideas and concepts.” Agencies preparing for presentations in this project based review include Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners; Droga5, StrawberryFrog and Wieden + Kennedy, Cutwater in San Francisco; and DraftFCB in Chicago.

Rewind. Excuse us? For $50K, you get totally powned. They want to own your ideas, forever and ever and ever. Make millions of them, while you struggle to pay the staff who created those awesome concepts. Other brands have gone this route including Hilton, and Kraft. We’re not against brands attempting to own your ideas. That’s business. This is the jungle baby. In many cases, maybe some of these folks just want to add Disney to their roster, boost their agency profile and so, lie down for the lion. Two unnamed agencies pushed back. We’re going to guess one was Droga. We applaud whoever they were. However, this is a no-no. Don’t do it! If you guys go in for this, then Disney knows it really does hold the industry by the balls. Other brands will follow suit and, and, and… this is the way it has always gone. It’s cyclical and totally depressing.

Seriously? You guys are gonna go for this? Yes, it’s great to have Disney on the client list and yes, maybe you have some groundbreaking idea for movie marketing you want out in the world, but you guys are willing to set the course of I.P. ownership for the rest of the advertising business?

Main entry: Sell Out

Pronunciation: \ˈsel-ˌaut\

Function: noun

Date: 1859

1: the act or an instance of selling out 2: something sold out; especially : something (as a concert or contest) for which all tickets are sold 3: one who betrays a cause for personal advancement.

We very rarely use the word sell out. It no longer applies in many instances considering the time we live in, but in this case? SELL OUTS!

Something else totally depressing? Julie Roehm is involved. Back from the media cyclone, Julie was contacted to help pick the initial list of agencies. She was on the phone calls for the agency briefings, but supposedly, is no longer involved in the process. This just gets ickier and ickier.

Thirteen agencies and the Adcenter at Virginia Commonwealth University are ready to debut their efforts for The Tap Water Project kicked started by Droga5. The campaign benefits Unicef’s to provide clean drinking water to children in the third world. The campaign encourages diners at participating restaurants during the week of March 16 to donate $1 each time they order local tap water instead of bottled water. Last year, the effort raised $100,000.

Agencies included are: TBWA/Chiat/Day, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners,Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Saatchi & Saatchi, Wieden & Kennedy, Trumpet, BDDO, Publicis West, and and… Hmm… we might be missing someone.Jeff Goodby said to The New York Times that: “The idea’s incredibly magnetic and deserves support, whoever came up with it.”

Uh, Jeff… we all know it was David Droga. It’s okay. You can give him some credit in the press without melting.

Goodby goes onto to get his dick back later in the article.

‘“You could quibble about the fickleness of advertising people when it comes to causes,” Mr. Goodby of Goodby, Silverstein said. “But you can’t argue with the amount of energy and time being put into this.”

Nor would Mr. Goodby argue about whether his agency ought to work so hard on an idea that originated someplace else.

“I know Droga will have to be my slave on some future project,” he said, laughing.’

Creativity Online has a breaking story about Droga5 opening a shop in Sydney on December 1, to be headed by former Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney ECD David “Nobby” Nobay (pictured above) and head of strategy Sudeep Gohill. Poaching people from Saatchi, huh? Nice work. Will Saatchi & Saatchi/New York executive creative directors Jan Jacobs and Leo Premutico be coming along?

Read More: A Strange Interview With David Droga

Droga5’s branded entertainment channel Honeyshed has launched. Anyway, we saw three episodes - one with two models talking about disposable panties and then another, where the same two pretty,but slightly dim gals chat about Kiehl’s. Bored us out of our minds and we love Kiehl’s but these girls chatter is almost nonsense. The third episode featured to young black guys (who are quite likable) pushing the Wii with ex-pro boxer Larry Musgrove. They talk about the gloves Nintendo has to make their boxing games more fun. The boys state the price (it’s only $19.99!), talk about how the Wii is a better value than the Xbox and generally good around. Sorry, but all three videos barely held our attention.

There’s also a live chat feature. And yes, it’s in beta, but still… It took us eight tries to get the embed code to post one of the vids here. After all that effort, it seems the code isn’t compatible with WordPress - a very common blogging software. Overall, the site needs to get easier to use. Yes, there are some really pretty design elements, but clicking into the archive and using the stash can get difficult with boxes overlaying boxes, blah, blah, blah. And heavens - that flash is cumbersome.

Again, it’s in beta. Let’s see what happens. However, we’d love to hear what you have to say!