Agency Spy

Maurice Levy… God love the daft “cheese-eating surrender monkey” as he decided to share his “special insights & observations” with us all yesterday at the International Advertising Association (IAA) conference in DC.

Now I have already mentioned some of the “heavy insights” some of the pinheads at the conference have shared in the past 24 hours — like they are re-inventing the wheel or something — but our man Mo kicks it up a notch.

His master stroke to share with all:

The current advertising model is broken — mainly due to the emergence of digital.

Jesus…that is deep thought stuff there Mo — who thought companies like Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft would have a vested interest in a lot of the same stuff that Publicis works on. You mean that MSFT buying aQuantive could signal a challenge to the current advertising model? I’m blown away by the revelation.

My favorite part of the Brand Republic article in which I read this is the last bit:

“Levy alluded to this yesterday, saying that advertising agencies needed to develop a deeper understanding of technology, as audiences spend more time with video games, cell phones and other new media.”

In other words, our man Mo is saying that people aren’t watching TV (and :30 spots), listening to the radio or buying newspapers & magazines like they used to — so you’ll need to figure out how to reach the audience in new ways.

With statements like the quote above, no longer are we mystified by the hold that David Kenny has over Mo — I’m assuming Dave comes over to program Mo’s VCR clock for him too. (I’m assuming Mo hasn’t been alerted to DVD technology yet — gotta save some stuff in the tank to pull out for the next conference.)

It’s been 42 days since Publicis Seattle Art Director and father of two, Nicolas Francisco, went missing.

After leaving work on February 13th, he “disappeared.” His car was found only days later. His pregnant wife begged everyone to help her find him.

So, where’s this case gone lately?

And people who knew Nick seem split on the issue now. Was it foul play? Or cowardice?

The media hasn’t really explored the fact that Nick apparently told his church he’d planned quitting. A church that has a rather controversial reputation to begin with, quoting Snoop Dogg in sermons laden with firmly-prescribed gender roles. Some even refer to it as “cult-like.”

Here’s an article about Nick’s church from Salon.com.

There’s been speculation that the link between Nick’s resignation from the church and his disappearance are far too coincidental.

On the flip-side, some of his co-workers tend to think he just cut and run. Not a pleasant thought, but considerably less scary than the alternative.

Nick had only known about his wife’s pregnancy for a matter of days before disappearing. There’s been buzz about a lot of missing money from a PayPal account he had… and apparently the family was beyond broke.
Perhaps his resignation from the church was simply a heads-up… like, “hey. I’m not gonna be around soon.” And ditching one’s own car isn’t exactly rocket surgery.

A soap opera worthy of the name “As the Rumor Mill Turns.”

Either way, we hope Nick returns back safe and sound.
42 days and counting.

****

http://www.findnicholasfrancisco.com/

- Agent C

agencyspy.agentc at gmail dot com

Hal Riney, advertising legend and founder of a namesake agency, has passed away from cancer yesterday. He was 75. Riney was named number 30 on the Advertising Age 100 people of the 20th century. He was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2001. AdAge, who broke the news, has a comprehensive obituary.

“Riney’s unique body of work celebrates, implicitly if not flat-out, the American spirit and voice — often his own, deep honey-coated voice-over. For Saturn cars, Crocker Bank, Alamo car rentals, Henry Weinhard beers, Gallo (with front-porch stars Bartles & Jaymes) and “Morning in America” for Ronald Reagan’s re-election campaign, Riney’s words and pictures conveyed sincerity, warmth and credibility. He was recruited from Botsford Ketchum by David Ogilvy and opened O&M’s San Francisco office in 1976. In 1986, he took over the office, renaming it Hal Riney & Partners, and went on to mastermind GM’s Saturn introduction with dazzling success. Often imitated, never surpassed, Riney’s work achieved larger-than-life levels of creative excellence.”

Keith Courtney, award-winning former international creative director of Publicis in London, has died in a motorcycle accident in Cornwall, England.

His wife Anna Courtney-Forsyth, aged 31, who met Courtney when she worked as a senior account manager at Publicis, also later died in hospital.

Adam Kean, creative director at Publicis, who worked with Courtney, said: “Keith was an incredibly loquacious character - he had a tremendous amount of energy.

“He was hugely loved here and he knew everybody.”

He joined Publicis in London 1998, where he worked until 2006.

Since he left Publicis, he lived in Cornwall, working on the restoration of an old church.

Devon & Cornwall police are investigating the possibility that his Piaggio moped was in collision with a deer, after a carcass was found near the scene of the accident.

Ad data processor Donovan Data Systems and Publicis’ Starcom Mediavest are going to war. CEO Michael Donovan (pictured below) runs one of Madison Avenue’s biggest operating system for media buys. Publicis Groupe Media was a big client of Donovan’s. In an attempt to keep the Starcom MediaVest unit as a client, Donovan flew to Chicago to make his bid to CEO Jack Klues.

It didn’t go so well with Donovan calling out Klues on Starcom secrets. He even produced some sort of written evidence, which affidavits refer to as a “highly confidential document.” You better believe Publicis wants to keep this under wraps as the document is supposedly a business plan of SMG’spotential joint venture and co-market a new data processing system that would be a tough competitor for Donovan. MediaBank has been making this new system. This is like Watergate, folks. These are plans, which Donovan should not have his hands on. It would put Publicis media unit at huge disadvantage if were leaked considering it contains the unit’s finances. [Please! Someone leak it to us! We love the brawl. We want front row seats!] Publicis has spent the last 10 months trying to make sure it never sees the light of day.

Mediapost has this timeline of events:

DDS Vs. SMG Timeline

2000: Starcom shutters highly regarded, but expensive in-house data processing system, begins using DDS.

2004: SMG signs a three-year contract with DDS.

2005: SMG offers to renegotiate its contract with DDS trough 2007 and extend a new contract through 2012. Offer would form a “partnership” in which it would help develop a new, state-of-the-art digital media system in exchange for some preferential terms/treatment. DDS declines. SMG says it will pursue an alternative resource for its digital solution.

July 2006: DDS receives a call from MediaBank to make a presentation on its systems.

August 2006: DDS executive James Biskupic presents to MediaBank.

November 2006: Nancy Oppasser hired to work on project to design a new media data processing system for MediaBank. December 17, 2006: Oppasser expresses her ethical concerns about access to proprietary DDS information.

December 18, 2006: Oppasser is fired.

February 2007: Oppasser shares her concerns with DDS.

May 14, 2007: Michael Donovan flies to Chicago to meet with Publicis Media Group CEO Jack Klues and CFO Frank Voris. Shocks them by revealing “confidential” document.

June 2007: MediaBank acquires Datatech. SMG begins the process of transitioning from DDS to Datatech.

October 2007: SMG begins hiring “temporary help” to aid in the transition, claims more than $1 million in incremental, temporary labor costs to manage the process. Begins processing its media transactions on parallel systems: DDS and Datatech.

Dec. 20, 2007: Judge denies SMG’s motion for a temporary restraining order that would require DDS to continue processing buys for SMG’s clients.

Dec. 31, 2007: Donovan pulls plug on SMG systems (except for Canada, the U.K. and GM Planworks).

January 2007: Publicis Groupe Media Executive Director of Digital Development Nick Pahade leaves agency to join GSI Commerce after leading the team that developed the MediaBank system for SMG.

Feb. 15, 2008: Wall Street Journal breaks “Ad Heavyweights Battle Over Software” story.

March 5, 2008: DDS unveils iDesk, MediaBank pitches OX at American Association of Advertising Agencies’ Media Conference and Trade Show in Orlando.

First off, cheers to Publicis West, as well as all of Nicholas’ co-workers who have been pooling their time and resources in the hunt for the young art director. Heartrendingly, leads have dried up. The Heritage Condominiums on South 340th Street in Federal Way where police found his car has led to no new clues.

‘”We have not been able to tie him to that condominium complex other than the fact that his car showed up there,” King County Sheriff’s Office spokesman John Urquhart said.’

The reward for any information has been bumped up to $15K. Friends also set up a fund at Washington Mutual bank where donations can be made to help support his two children and wife, who is expecting their third child. Donations can be made at any location to the Nicholas Francisco Family Fund.

Bad news. Nicholas Francisco is an Art Director at Publicis advertising agency on lower Queen Anne in Seattle. He’s gone missing. Publicis has hired a private investigator and his friends, family are performing daily searches. Francisco has been missing since leaving work Wednesday night and never arriving home in SeaTac. Sightings of the 28-year-old have been reported at a gas station on Elliot Avenue in Seattle and also in Burien.

Have you seen him? Above is the flyer with all the contact information you need to help out or share any information you may have. His pregnant wife and his two children would appreciate it.

As you all do, we too wish for his safe return.

Zenith Optimedia has picked up L’Oreal’s French media duties. Hello Nelly! AdWeak estimates the value at $700 million-plus. BT Group has also handed its $130 million global media planning/buying account to Starcom and Zed Media. AdWeak is also saying that in total, Publicis has picked up $1.7 billion in global L’Oreal business. Get more information here.

Talbot’s s has selected Publicis New York to run its estimated $20 million ad account beating out The Richards Group and Publicis Groupe-owned The Kaplan Thaler Group in New York. The incumbent has been Havas’ Arnold for the past 10 years, but they did not defend, said AdWeek. Arnold last year orchestrated a TV, print, Internet and sweepstakes push that focused on Talbots’ employees. The work, stressing customer service, featured many of the chain’s more than 11,000 associates in newspaper ads and in a 170-page catalog with photos, their names, stores and length of time with the company. The effort posed the question, “What kind of classic are you?”

Don’t know how we missed this… Oh - wait. Yes, we do. It’s called work. Saatchi is apparently out of the LG review for its global corporate image business according to AdWeek. The shop withdrew due to a conflict, which apparently means the Sony Ericsson account. That leaves Publicis and Agency.com still vying for the $100 million account. Can you imagine if Agency.com pulls this off? Talk about a good start on a comeback, which began with their closing the creative work on LG’s digital display division.

Meanwhile, DDB and Bartle Bogle Hegarty are trying for their brand’s creative duties.