Agency of the Year

Advertising Age | January 9, 2006 | S-1 Special Report AGENCY OF THE YEAR After a wrenching overhaul, TV titan proves it has the stuff to execute keen insights over multiple platforms—all with the agility of a small shop BBDO TEAM: Surrounding CEO Andrew Robertson BBDO (front), from left, Andreas Combuechen, Tracy Lovatt, Bill Bruce, David Lubars, John Osborn, Jeff Mordos. PHOTO BY SCOTT GRIES Crispin Porter Bogusky ★★★★★ McGarryBowen ★★★★ Campbell-Ewald ★★★ Leo Burnett USA ★★★ Fallon Worldwide ★★ INSIDE Draft ★★★★★ McKinney ★★★★ DDB Worldwide ★★★ Martin Agency ★★★ FCB Worldwide ★★ McCann Erickson ★★★★★ R/GA ★★★★ Digitas ★★★ Ogilvy & Mather ★★★ JWT ★★ Agency Ratings: (1 to 5 stars) TBWA/Chiat/Day ★★★★★ Weber Shandwick ★★★★ Doner ★★★ Organic ★★★ Kirshenbaum Bond ★★ Vidal Partnership ★★★★★ Wieden & Kennedy ★★★★ Euro RSCG ★★★ SpikeDDB ★★★ Publicis USA ★★ Bartle Bogle Hegarty ★★★★ Arnold Worldwide ★★★ Goodby Silverstein ★★★ Wunderman ★★★ Saatchi & Saatchi ★★ Dieste Harmel & Partners ★★★★ Avenue A/Razorfish ★★★ Grey Worldwide ★★★ Berlin Cameron ★★ Lowe ★ Kaplan Thaler Group ★★★★ Bromley ★★★ GSD&M ★★★ Deutsch ★★ Y&R ★ S-2 | January 9, 2006 | Advertising Age Special Report AGENCY OF THE YEAR ble Co. Chief Marketing Officer Jim Stengel, after the agency was added to the P&G roster following its acquisition of BBDO client Gillette Co. BBDO, which brought in Fallon and Lowe vet Mark Goldstein to lead its new-business ef- forts,won in a lot of different ways.It shared in the Omnicom win of Bank of America, a $600 million review that was the biggest of the year; it turned project work for E-Trade into an agency of record relationship. To clinch Mit- subishi,it bested a field of tough rivals. TEAM PITCH FOR LOWE’S To bring in the Lowe’s business, the BBDO pitch team collaborated with events, multicul- tural and sports-marketing specialist agencies to come up with the insights that won the day. “They got the rational and emotional qualities of the brand rather quickly,” says Pete Woods, VP-advertising at Lowe’s.“And they brought a holistic team to the table that wasn’t defined by the bricks and mortar of BBDO.” Being able to play well with others is increas- ingly important in today’s media landscape where consumers have to be reached on cell- phones, PDAs and any number of other digital channels,as well as traditional media.That’s why marketers talk so much about ideas that can cross SCOTT GRIES SCOTT media,and why it’s so tough for any one agency AD SAVVY: From left, Andrew Robertson, David Lubars and John Osborn, and work for Mountain Dew and eBay. to be fluent in all those media languages. “What we like more and more is their brainpower and how they’re attacking things AGENCY OF THE YEAR strategically,” says Steve Pacheco, director-advertising for FedEx Corp., a client since 1989. “They’re partnering more often with smart people, especially in the new-media space, when in the old days they would have stayed within the confines of BBDO. It’s become a BBDO’s retooling pays off much more open and flexible shop.” That versatility came after uprooting layers of executive bureaucracy and flattening re- porting structures for both account teams and creative departments. It’s a stab at that idea of with business bonanza the global boutique, a perhaps unattainable agency model that is streamlined and account- Old-line shop sheds its stodgy, rhetoric,and even some client work that suggests born to overhaul a famously insular environ- able but still has a deep enough bench to recon- BBDO might actually be able to shed the peren- ment that has been described by some as a “fear- figure to meet the demands of prospective ac- TV-centric image with focus nial dis that it’s too TV-centric. based culture.” counts. “We’ve really tried to strip out Corporate America has responded favorably. There were setbacks.The biggest was the de- bureaucracy,” says Mr. Osborn. “I like to say on media without boundaries Last year, Bank of America, Lowe’s, Mit- fection of Visa USA, a client for 10 years, to sib- we’re proud of being a big agency,and we bring By MATTHEW CREAMER subishi Motors North America, Motorola, ling shop TBWA/Chiat/Day, Playa del Rey, all those resources.For instance,every team we eBay and E-Trade were among the major mar- Calif. There was the adverse reaction a major put together to pursue a piece of business this you can forgive David Lubars—complexion keters that parked their accounts at the Omni- client had to the Robertson/Lubars revolution. year was a different, customized team. But we pale, tuft of hair a bit wild, conversation ADD- com Group-owned network,leading to growth The sacking of Mr.Sann shook up Pepsi, leading try to organize like a small agency.” addled—for being scattered. of about 15% to 20% for BBDO in the U.S. the major BBDO and Omnicom client to call the As BBDO moves forward an obvious chal- It has,after all,been a busy year,one in which “It’s not a flavor of the week,” says Marc Le- move “shocking” in The New York Times. lenge will be trying to encroach on the turf that he’s helped BBDO rack up more than $1 billion far, Cingular chief marketing officer. “They’re Months later,it threw its Diet Pepsi account into smaller, creative agencies have dominated: gen- in new billings while trying to make the Pepsi very good, intuitively,at finding a single insight review, moving it to sibling shop DDB in what erating a big,infectious ad idea that wins Cannes Generation’s ad agency into something that and making it really big.” some insiders saw as a move Lions and brings in the real coin of the marketing matters to Generation Y. Just talking with him Beyond filling Omni- RECENT AGENCY OF that had personal undertones. realm: buzz. What’s missing is its “Subservient about his craft is a scramble from inscrutable com’s coffers, BBDO’s suc- THE YEAR WINNERS: Dawn Hudson,president- Chicken,” the Crispin Porter & Bogusky Web business metaphor (“We need to be chefs, not cess demonstrates that big CEO of Pepsi-Cola North stunt for Burger King, or “Grrr,” the Wieden & 2004: Crispin Porter & Bogusky waiters”) to unanswerable questions (“Can we agencies still matter in a America, said there were no Kennedy idea for Honda U.K. that dominated be a gigantic global boutique?”). There are also year when upstarts gnawed 2003: Berlin Cameron/Red Cell regrets about the agency awards shows last year—what Mr. Robertson less expected turns,such as an impromptu demo into the dominance of 2002: Deutsch switch, but she praised im- describes as “ceiling-shattering pieces of work.” of a keyboard shortcut on his Mac followed by a Madison Avenue’s giants provements Messrs. Robert- In 2005, Mr. Lubars and company made 2001: Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide touching anecdote about a deceased colleague. and a rapidly changing me- son and Lubars are making. marginal improvements, especially in its print And, then, amid the digressions, false starts, dia landscape called into “They didn’t throw out and outdoor work for HBO and Pepsi’s Aquafi- self-defenses and groping for a way to explain question the worth of the 30-second spot. the old and bring in the new,”Ms.Hudson said in na and Mountain Dew. A campaign for eBay the extraordinary success of his agency this year a recent interview. “They tried to protect that showed off more integrated thinking. Strong comes maybe the most honest statement made THE ROBERTSON AGENDA what makes BBDO strong and add to it more in- Internet work from interactive Atmosphere in the ad business in a long time: “I can’t really Just about everyone—from marketing partners tegrated work and more unusual kinds of mar- BBDO also supplemented big, effective TV say what I do all day, but I know I get home at like Pepsi and Cingular, to insiders, to rival keting that’s becoming the future of marketing.” blasts for Cingular. 10:00 every night and I’m really tired.” agency executives—attributes that to the vision To say the agency merely recovered from the Trying to one-up its own business perform- Since the digitally savvy creative director of Andrew Robertson, a smooth-talking indus- Diet Pepsi debacle would be an understatement. ance, however, will be another story entirely. joined in 2004, BBDO has been on a mission to try wunderkind who ascended to the worldwide Over the following months, it went on a new- While advancing on P&G’s roster will be the take a giant, old-line ad agency known for mak- CEO role in 2004 with a clear agenda. His first business binge that even longtime industry ob- No. 1 mission, Mr. Goldstein, exec VP-chief ing big,cinematic,celebrity-stuffed TV spots and major move was to replace a famous creative in servers have trouble finding a precedent to marketing officer of BBDO North America, repurpose it for a time when the boob tube no Ted Sann with Mr.Lubars.In the first full year of match. By the end of the year,Mr.Robertson, in estimates there are 75 or so categories that longer dominates. There have been some high- that partnership, both worked with longtime a potential sign of accounts to come, was even BBDO could still handle, chief among them profile firings and hirings, a lot of high-flying players like New York President-CEO John Os- getting public shout-outs from Procter & Gam- fashion and apparel. Advertising Age | January 9, 2006 | S-3 GLOBAL AGENCY NETWORK OF THE YEAR Unilever, BA work pushes BBH to top in Asia, as a satellite office for Levi’s in Tokyo was converted into a full-service agency and Bartle Bogle staffed up to enter Shanghai; in 2006 a new law in China will let agencies start wholly owned operations without saddling them with joint-venture partners.

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