Advertising Age - Agency News

McGarryBowen Takes Advil's $80 Million Creative Account
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- McGarryBowen has nabbed creative duties for Pfizer pain-reliever brand Advil brand's $80 million advertising account, according to people familiar with the situation.

MasterCard Consolidates Media at Universal McCann
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- MasterCard is ending its 15-year relationship with the agency that helped it launch its "Priceless" campaign, Omnicom Group's GSD&M Idea City, and consolidating its U.S. media-planning and buying business with Interpublic Group of Cos.' Universal McCann. The move unites MasterCard's creative, media, PR and digital accounts under the Interpublic umbrella.

Eric Silver Becomes Majority Owner of Amalgamated, New York

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Eric Silver is trading in big-agency life to run a small, indie shop. The former top creative at Omnicom Group's DDB is taking a majority ownership stake in 34-person Amalgamated, New York, and will serve as its chief creative officer.

Holding Cos. Clean House, Consolidate Agencies to Gain Efficiency, Scale
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- This summer, agency holding companies kept busy with a bit of housekeeping. Omnicom Group, WPP, Interpublic Group of Cos. and MDC Partners in the past few months have all streamlined the number of individual shops and agency offices sitting under the same umbrella -- sweeping underperforming entities under their stronger siblings and combining agencies to create scale and expand geographic footprint. And it's not over: CEOs of those companies and observers say there's more to come this year.

Publicis Is Falling Short on Ad Pact With Microsoft
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Publicis Groupe is having trouble meeting its media-spending commitment to Microsoft, according to several people familiar with the situation. The third-largest agency-holding company entered into the commercial agreement last summer when it bought digital agency Razorfish from Microsoft. Execs put the commitment at "a couple hundred million dollars" annually for ad inventory.

Under New Owner, Burger King May Spend More on Marketing

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The $4 billion sale of Burger King to 3G Capital Management this week doesn't mean flip for McDonald's firmer-than-ever position as the No. 1 burger chain. But it does present an opportunity to steal back at least some of the share ceded in the past couple of years to the Golden Arches as well as fast-feeders like Wendy's, Subway and Domino's.

Rockfish Taps Two P&G Execs to Open Cincinnati Office
BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Two Procter & Gamble Co. marketers are joining Rockfish Interactive to form a Cincinnati branch of the fast-growing Northwest Arkansas-based digital agency, giving a shop that counts behemoths Walmart Stores and P&G among its clients an additional foothold as it seeks to double headcount for the second year in a row.

Tabasco Up for Review After 24 Years at TracyLocke

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- After a 24-year relationship with Omnicom Group's TracyLocke, the owner of Tabasco, McIlhenny Co., is inviting agencies to pitch creative ideas for its popular hot-sauce brand.

Red Bull Reviews U.S. Media Business
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Energy drink marketer Red Bull is close to wrapping a review for its $50 million U.S. media planning and buying account, according to executives familiar with the situation.

Havas Reports Revenue Up 1.8% in First Half on U.S. Growth
LONDON (AdAge.com) -- Havas Group reported organic revenue growth of 1.8% in the first half of 2010, boosted by 2% growth in the second quarter. WPP and Aegis Group recently reported somewhat higher organic revenue growth for the first half.

Creatives Should Build Knowledge, Not Books

"Mad Men" may be a TV show, but some themes -- such as the importance our industry places on portfolios -- hit close to home for creatives.

Why Carmichael Lynch Resigned Harley After 31 Years
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- When it comes to client-agency relationships, agencies aren't typically the ones doing the dumping. But that's just what Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis, appears to have done to iconic motorcycle company Harley-Davidson after a 31-year-long ride.

Deutsch Wins Piece of Microsoft Business

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Microsoft has shifted a chunk of its massive ad account, its cloud-computing business, to Interpublic Group of Cos.' Deutsch, New York, from WPP's JWT. The move comes after an unusually quick review process for which the technology giant reached out to major holding companies including WPP, Interpublic, Omnicom Group and Publicis Groupe.

Aegis Group to Focus on Acquisitions After Beating First-Half Expectations
LONDON (AdAge.com) -- Aegis Group beat its first-half expectations, fueled by growth in the Asia Pacific region and a strong second quarter, and new CEO Jerry Buhlmann's commitment to bolstering the group through acquisitions.

Mark Modesto, Two Other Top Execs Out at DraftFCB

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Three top executives at DraftFCB -- North American President and nearly 30-year agency veteran Mark Modesto; Chicago Chief Financial Officer Bob Mallers; and North American Chief of Staff Bill McCarthy -- are suddenly out at the Interpublic Group of Cos. agency, according to people close to the agency.

What Matters Most When Selecting an Agency

One of the most important decisions a CMO makes is agency selection. Here's what matters most when selecting a new agency.

Lessons Learned From 20 Years in the Media Game

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- With just over 20 years of experience running independently owned Horizon Media, Bill Koenigsberg has far more tenure than any of his contemporaries. The game of musical chairs that has taken place at the CEO level within the media-agency world has not affected Horizon, the shop that Mr. Koenigsberg founded back in 1989. And the agency has been on a new-business tear.

WPP Reports Growth, Fueled by U.S., Traditional Media

Creatives, Know When to Ask for Help

I have a theory about why some "traditional" agencies aren't evolving as quickly, or effectively, as they need to: because their creative directors aren't admitting that they're stupid.

Interpublic's Gotham Wins Denny's Creative

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Restaurant chain Denny's has tapped Interpublic Group of Cos.' Gotham to handle creative duties on its $60 million account after a review, according to several industry executives. Gotham succeeds Omnicom Group's Goodby Silverstein & Partners, which split with the marketer this summer.

For Bollore Group Chief, Industry Intrigue, Family Saga Drive Power Moves

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- French industrialist and billionaire Vincent Bollore, chairman of family-controlled Bollore Group, has been riling the ad industry since buying a controlling stake in Havas five years ago in a boardroom coup and becoming Aegis Group's biggest shareholder shortly after that. Mr. Bollore spoke to Ad Age Editor Abbey Klaassen this summer about everything from making electric cars to the future of Havas.

Arby's Splits With Merkley & Partners, Launches Review

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Fast-feeder Arby's today said it is splitting with Omnicom Group's Merkley & Partners, after a six-year relationship, and is conducting a review for a new national ad agency of record.

Red Lobster Taps Grey for $120 Million Account

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Red Lobster has tapped Grey, New York, to serve as its creative agency of record, beating out Interpublic Group of Cos.' DraftFCB, WPP's Ogilvy and Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, in a final round.

Joyce King Thomas Not Leaving McCann Yet

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Joyce King Thomas, the chief creative officer of Interpublic Group of Cos.' McCann Erickson, New York, won't be saying goodbye to the agency as quickly as originally planned, according to executives familiar with the situation.

EHarmony Talks to Media Shops for $85 Million Account

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Matchmaking site eHarmony is reaching out to media agencies at several major holding companies for its $85 million U.S. media planning and buying account, according to people familiar with the situation.

Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal Taps Bill Grogan as Global CMO

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- MDC Partners-owned Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners has quietly hired Bill Grogan, a nearly 30-year ad industry veteran and the husband of the agency CEO Lori Senecal, to serve as its chief global marketing officer -- a newly created role.

Mother Snares Six Flags Marketer to Lead New York Shop

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The growing New York office of independent agency Mother has snagged Angelina Vieira Barocas, most recently senior VP marketing-entertainment at Six Flags, to serve as managing director, overseeing day-to-day operations.

Campbell-Mithun Absorbs Minneapolis Office of MRM
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Interpublic Group of Cos.' Campbell-Mithun, Minneapolis, announced it will absorb the 50-person local office of digital agency MRM.

Agencies Divided on Where to House New Mobile Units
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- In a matter of weeks, several new mobile units have sprouted up within adland, prompting debate in ad circles about whether the offerings should take root within creative agencies or form under media shops.

Treat Your Clients Like Prospects and Vice Versa

When the Advertising Agency Register, originally a British import, opened its doors in 1980 to help marketers with the process of agency search and selection, there was an unspoken gentleman's rule: Mega-agencies threw back the smallest fish -- at that time it was usually accounts less than $5 million in billings. Some time in the past three decades, the "gentleman's rule" has vanished into thin air.