According to Ad Age, Chan Suh is pulling a Steve Jobs. He's back in the role of CEO at Agency.com, the company he founded in 1995. "It's like getting the band back together," Mr. Suh said. "It's time to agitate again." Mr. Suh, had stepped away from agency operations in 2004, the year after it became wholly owned by Omnicom. Mr. Suh's goal for Agency.com is to boost its emerging-media capabilities and bring the shop …
Manufacturing Goodness By The Beach
Ad Age reports that five Crispin Porter & Bogusky staffers have left the shop for greener pastures. Their fledgling agency will be called Goodness Mfg. with offices in Venice, Calif., just blocks from the office Crispin opened (and later shuttered) in the 1990s. Goodness Mfg. has no clients yet, but the agency is open to "any account that pays the bills," said creative director Tom Adams. Crispin's Chief Creative …
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Doing A 180 In L.A.
I wouldn't say Los Angeles is the friendliest of American cities, but 180 Amsterdam seems to be making a place for itself. According to Adweek, the agency is settling in to their Santa Monica digs (above a yoga studio). Last fall, the consumer electronics giant Sony awarded its U.S. business to the agency, which is teaming up on the account with BBDO. This was the incentive 180 needed to expand, and in early 2007, it …
Channel Marketing Capabilities Adds $400 Mil To Burnett’s Billings
You may have heard that automotive behemoth General Motors shifted its Buick and GMC truck advertising accounts to Leo Burnett without a review. Sun Times ad columnist, Lewis Lazare, says it wasn't a creative decision, although he despises McCann Erickson's new tagline for Buick, "Drive Beautiful." In fact, Lazare calls the line "horrendously stupid." Rather, GM wanted to establish Buick, Pontiac and GMC in one …
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What Do You Do When You Don’t Get Paid For Freelance Work?
Okay, here's an open question for all of you. I did some freelance work for an ad agency late last year. Two separate jobs for $900 apiece. I was paid for one, but not the other. I have the agency's PO issued for the unpaid job, dated January of this year. I have been steadily (once every two weeks or so) inquiring and emailing to the accounting department (and occasionally to an account person who deals with this …
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One Green Egg Leads To Another
Egg in Seattle is one agency committed to making a difference in the world. The focus of their work is on sustainable brands, but they're also putting plans in place to reduce their own footprint. Our goals: full carbon neutrality for our agency, and carbon-neutral print advertisement and website development options for our clients. Kevin Wilhelm, of Innovative Strategies, a sustainability consulting firm, paid a …
Stale Category Gets Action-Packed Injection
According to a spokesperson from Springer & Jacoby International in Amsterdam, the shop has positioned themselves as "a sparring partner to clients, helping and challenging them to overcome their own brand's conventions. In this vein, the agency worked up a rebranding campaign for Atradius - one of the world's leading credit insurers. The new campaign concentrates on the freedom that credit insurance provides, and …
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I Think I’m Turning Japanese, I Really Think So
The Wall Street Journal shines its light on the Japanese ad market, showing just how closely held it is by the Japanese themselves. Recognizing this fact has led some international players like TBWA to invent new structures that work within Japanese business culture, instead of the lame (if not imperialist) "If it works in the U.S. it'll work here too" approach. For years, Western advertising agencies have had a hard …
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