Agency Spy

Incoming Young & Rubicam executive creative directors Scott Vitrone and Ian Reichenthal will become the day-to-day leaders of the shop’s creative department in New York with the rapid exit of North American chief creative officer Gary Goldsmith last week.

Adweek again has all the intricate details you’ll ever want:

“Vitrone and Reichenthal also are expected to work on select network assignments, including some involving clients outside New York. They start this week.

Previously, the two were partners and group creative directors at TBWA\Chiat\Day here, where they produced irreverent and quirky work for Mars brands such as Skittles, Snickers and Starburst. They resigned from TBWA\C\D two months ago to join WPP Group’s Y&R.

At their new shop, Vitrone and Reichenthal will oversee a department of 112 creatives and work under worldwide cd Tony Granger, who also will be based in New York.

“Their first priority coming in should be to focus on Y&R New York and help us build the momentum we have been gaining there,” said worldwide CEO Hamish McLennan, in a statement. “Tony and I believe their enthusiasm and their absolute love of their craft will be infectious and uplifting.”

Granger, the former CCO at Publicis Groupe’s Saatchi & Saatchi here, is expected to join Y&R next month after negotiating a reduction in the one-year notice period in his Saatchi contract. He resigned from Saatchi in November.

Vitrone said he was “excited to dig in and help Y&R as it continues its transformation,” while Reichenthal described his new role as a “great challenge” and a “terrific new beginning.”

We (using the royal “we” of course) discussed a bit about this last week in the comments section — what kind of impact is Y&R realistically looking at with adding these two — both in the short & long-term?  Discuss amongst yourselves…or in the comments.

WPP is a complex machine with 125 communications companies riding beneath its banner. At the top and waving the flag high is one of the hardest working men in ad business: Sir Martin Sorrell. The 63-year-old chief executive has this to say about structure to Forbes:

“The 21st century is not for tidy minds.”

He’s also on record with his distaste of business models and a need for precision:

“If there’s a phrase I loathe, it’s “business model…” In my company, we have 102,000 people working in 106 countries. Our world is made up of revenues, costs, profits, and cash flow. Can each panelist precisely say what their revenues, profits, and cash flows are today, and what they will be in a few years? Please, be precise.”

Maybe that’s what makes Sorrell, Sorrell. The dichotomy. Well, that and the fact that he’s a competitor, which trickles down to the shops in WPP’s portfolio. The firms are known to compete intensely with one another. Executives explain their complex alliances as having “dual nationalities,” loyal to both their specific brand and to WPP.” However, all this shifting and fighting yields stellar results. In 2007, WPP reported a pretax profit of $1.4 billion on revenue of $12.3 billion, up 8% in constant currencies. Making it second only to Omnicom. Over the past decade the company’s earnings per share have been climbing at an 11% annual rate.

All that is exciting and all, but employees still have their own mantra, “WPP? Why Pay People?”

Another mantra for Sorrell is “kiss and punch.” He holds each company accountable in quarterly budget meetings but lets them figure out how to reach their own benchmarks. It’s like Mom being like, “This room better be clean by 4 pm. I don’t care how you get it done, just get it done.”

Another tactic of Sorrell’s is to take large companies like P&G and split the business across more than one shop, say Ogilvy and JWT. Unilever is handled by around 47 WPP firms. Sorrel is providing a menu. Clients pick and choose, mix and match. All the while, Sorrell knows if one firm fails the brand, he can easily slide them over to another who has been doing a bit of work for the client anyway. It’s better than the client hosting a review and going outside of WPP’s doors.

The “kiss” comes in when a big deal client is on the verge of signing on the dotted line. All the agencies come together. In-house rivals pitch in their expertise to land the big fish. Sorrell awards $120,000 in stock to cross-company teams that “demonstrably enhance client service” during these kissy faced meetings.

Sorrell is a fighter. In 1985, at the age of 40, Sorrell left Saatchi & Saatchi to consolidate marketing services and over the next two years Sorrell made 15 acquisitions including a basket factory. In 1987, Sorrell bought the trouble J. Walter Thompson for $566 million. He also tried for Ogilvy. The retired David Ogilvy, said:

“The idea of being taken over by that odious little shit really gives me the creeps. He’s never written an advertisement in his life.” Read the rest of this entry »