Tag Archives: ad agency

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Saatchi & Saatchi facing Review over “I love NY” campaign

Advertising Agency Saatchi & Saatchi is up for review on I LOVE NY acct. Division of Tourism included in the review. Much anger at rebranding effort within state tourism industry. The $17,000,000 dollar logo redesign and campaign is facing a hostile review.

It’s too costly, and evidently it (the campaign) didn’t work.   From our understanding this is really a hostile review…  The chances of Saatchi continuing the account is “slim to none” from what we were told.

No response from Saatchi on the matter as of yet, but if the review is hostile we don’t expect Saatchi to defend.

Story is breaking…..

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Creepy Real Estate Website features Ad Agency Executive

Blockshopper.com is really creepy. Now we all know that Robin Elizabeth Beattie bought the one-bedroom, one-bath condo Unit #11E home at 96 Schermerhorn St. in Brooklyn from Mark Stokes for $355,000 on Feb. 4.

We also know where her house is located via Google maps and street view.

We know she was / is vice president and associate creative director at Roberts and Langer DDB, an advertising agency.

She previously was creative supplier and copywriter at Grey NYC. She attended the City University of New York-Hunter College.

and here’s her picture.

This site is far too creepy in terms of personal information, as it then points directly to her linkedin profile, but adds her physical address as well to it.

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US to create “government tourism advertising agency”

But not everyone has gotten on board. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said creating what he called a “government tourism advertising agency” is unnecessary. Full Story on CNN

It would be a brand new $100 million account that would be open to the old boys network.

Great Stuff, my bet is it has to go to a holding company because they are the only ones with “the reach” .. (still comical since you can rank just as well in Google.co.uk as you can in Google.com … but don’t let the facts get in the way of wasting money). And since the program is coming from Washington , it has to be a US owned holding company.

To put it lightly, coming out of Washington it’s going to already be awarded to Omnicom Group .

They are the only ones that meet all three criteria

1 – old boys network
2 – holding company with reach
3 – US based

Come to the US by the Truckload!

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Did WPP and Dell spend a quarter billion on Enfatico?

Is there a way to get the actual amount spent on this disaster?

Between Dell and WPP , what literally was allocated to this project, the 10 year leases, the 1000 apple computers bought for Dell, the estimated 600 people on payroll …. etc etc…

Dell said that they would allocate $4.5 billion to the project… but the chances are remote that they got anywhere near that…

That being stated they DID hire hundreds of people, took out roughly a dozen leases, bought nearly a 1000 apple machines… etc etc… they spent money.. big money..

Dell doesn’t line item “Money wasted in Advertising” on their balance sheet… so I guess I need to make a spreadsheet and add it up with estimates..we’re going to do this with really rough numbers because WPP and Dell both refuted our requests for hard numbers due to the embarrassing nature of the question.

But I am guessing it went into at least $150,000,000 to $300,000,000 million range.

The 100,000 Sf office in Manhattan alone would be millions.

My guess is they hired at least 600 people when all the press releases are added up.. if the average salary is $40,000 (when you factor in Boon’s salary with the staffers making $10 bucks an hour)…

So 600 x 40,000 = $24,000,000
Add the customary 30% for payroll taxes, health insurance etc etc…

You got an additional $7,200,000

So you’re looking at roughly $30,000,000 a year for 3 years…
That’s $90,000,000 in payroll alone.

A dozen office spaces at 100,000 a month…

That comes out to be $14,400,000 (12 x 100,000 x 12 months)

So now we’re on or about $105,000,000 (roughly)

Let’s add it an additional 2 million for apple machines, apple software, copies of photoshop, digital cameras, photo equipment, ect etc.

Now you’re getting close to the 110,000,000 mark…

3 years…. of this mess…

How much do desks, phone systems and chairs cost? They didn’t buy that stuff at the thrift store…

I would say between $150,000,000 and $300,000,000 was blown on this project.. that produced one ad in India worth about $2,000 bucks with a small advertising agency.

How many people’s job could be saved with $300,000,000. What new products would Dell have launched with an additional $300,000,000 in the bank?

Yes it’s known that the Enfatico disaster happened.. but did anyone actually look at how much this hurt everyone.. the lost potential income from new products, the mess in terms of lack of advertising. This was a disaster that will have repercussions for the next decade or longer at minimum with the landlord of the buildings that Enfatico signed a 10 year lease with.

So here’s the challenge WPP and Dell .. tell us exactly what the shareholders lost on this?

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Tiny ad agency puts out full page NYT ad – 5 figures

The BDM ad was unusual because it is an example of something we rarely see in the ad world nowadays, namely ad agencies advertising themselves. “It’s what we tell our clients to do, so we figured that we should, too,” explained Stuart D’Rozario, the founding partner at BDM who wrote the copy-heavy ad seen in the N.Y. Times. The ad cost the small shop a solid five-figure sum to run, but it did what it was intended to do — attract attention. “We’ve gotten many e-mails,” D’Rozario said. Fueling business is reporting

5 figure sum, in this economy, in print media … they must be getting e-mails because people are in shock.

I wish I had an RSS feed to that e-mail account:

“You paid what for that ad?”
“This is the advice you give your clients?”
“Who could you have hired with those 5 figures?”

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Since when does the FDIC respond to Youtube Videos?

Edit : It appears that the Video was taken down now, only adding fuel to the fire.

The problem before the FDIC responded the view count on the video was 683 total, after the FDIC responded the view count on the video shot up to 14,000 and climbing. In other words the FDIC’s unknowing march into social media boosted the view count of the video and widened it’s reach.

This was a very poor decision on part of the FDIC’s PR department. Honestly I wouldn’t have even noticed the video and posted it on Google News if I didn’t see the FDIC’s press release.

They need some sort of social media savvy ad agency… because what they got now is a PR firm for the people saying bad things about them.

Here is the press release:
—————————–
Press Releases
FDIC Provides Additional Information on its Loss Share Agreement With OneWest Bank

February 12, 2010

FDIC Director of Public Affairs Andrew Gray said, “It is unfortunate but necessary to respond to blatantly false claims in a web video that is being circulated about the loss-sharing agreement between the FDIC and OneWest Bank. Here are the facts: OneWest has not been paid one penny by the FDIC in loss-share claims. The loss-share agreement is limited to 7% of the total assets that OneWest services, and OneWest must first take more than $2.5 billion in losses before it can make a loss-share claim on owned assets. In order to be paid through loss share, OneWest must have adhered to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).

The producers of this video perpetuate other falsehoods. The FDIC has not requested to borrow money from the Treasury Department. Indeed, we continue to be funded by the banking industry through assessments, not by taxpayers as claimed in the video.

This video has no credibility. Regardless of the personal or professional motivations behind its production, there is always a responsibility to be factually correct and transparent. The FDIC made available a fact sheet on the day that the sale of IndyMac was announced that details the terms of the contract. It’s too bad that the creators of this video opted to premise it on falsehoods.”

http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2010/onewest_lossshare.html

Must of struck a nerve. This is awkward in many regards, but the FDIC isn’t know to responding to social media discussions, Youtube videos or even bloggers. So what prompted them to respond to this?

This is the video in question

Edit: The guy updated his video here:

http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/23088/1013723

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Today, Team Detroiters watched in horror

The below e-mail came in anonymously. I do not know the name of the individual that sent it, but it’s an interesting read to state the least.  The below is a full cut and paste of the e-mail, nothing was modified or changed.

——
Today, Team Detroiters watched in horror as two of their own announced, in not
so many words, that they were committing portfolio suicide. While one ACD
threatened to follow suit, using a tactic about as sharp as a KFC spork.

The incendiary? Doug “The Flat Top” Claggett, the devious Creative Director
Meredith hired to spearhead their crumb of Chrysler CRM business.

Known for ideas as flat as his hair, Claggett resigned from his position in the
Ford CRM group last week. Nary a tear was shed. After all, anybody who would
leave Team Detroit the day Ford announced billion-dollar profits to spearhead
CRM for the nail in BBDO’s coffin (RIP) was obviously a ginormous boob.

For months, Claggett had been hiding in his office, working on his book, which
consisted of pirated ideas he killed for personal gain. So naturally, when it
came time to invite misery to keep him company, Claggett did what he did best:
pirate.

He convinced two junior Team Detroit creatives that burning their WPP bridge
would be good for their career — and more automotive junk, er, I mean direct
mail would diversify their books. And gave one delusional ACD the brilliant idea
to use the job offer from Claggett as leverage to score Claggett’s old job at
Team Detroit. Really, we can’t begin to speculate WTF he was thinking. Nor do
we care. We just hope he leaves us the good stapler.

To Claggett’s credit, he did get Meredith to agree to a year’s worth of
severance if the whole Chrysler thing didn’t pan out — which is pretty
flattering for someone too ignorant to realize it was an act of desperation.
Because even though Detroit creatives are in dire straits, they’d rather sling
crack on 8 Mile than CRM for Chrysler.

Stay tuned, Tribble, for a mailbox full of Chrysler collateral that looks oddly
similar to something you received from Ford four years ago.

—————–

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Meet Nicholas Francisco AKA Alex Martin former Publicis West Ad Agency Executive

This is bad, really bad. Former Ad Agency Executive Nicholas Francisco has been found living under the name Alex Martin. Thanks to some good reporting from KIRO 7 TV they found Nicholas Francisco AKA Alex Martin

But almost two years after his disappearance, Ming Laven realized KIRO 7 had to look for someone entirely different: A man whose driver’s license says “Alex Martin.”

And they found him in Los Angeles.

He was living with a roommate, doing freelance design work out of this duplex.

His cover blown, he reluctantly sat down with us for a few minutes.

Ming Laven: What were you trying to get away from?

Francisco: Everything.

Ming Laven: Such as?

Francisco: Literally everything. I needed to leave and that’s what I wanted to do.

Ming Laven: Was it hard to leave your kids?

Francisco: Yeah. Everyone else, not so much.

His ex-wife Christine had been waiting for two years to hear what happened.

“To hear it and hear it from his mouth, that’s hard. It’s reality,” said Christine.

In the meantime, she gave birth to their third child — alone.

And she’s tried to explain to 4-year-old Noah and 6-year-old Zea why dad isn’t around anymore.

“He chose just as much as I did that he wanted to have those three beautiful kids, and he does have a responsibility to them,” said Christine.

“You know, it’s sad that I can’t be a part of that, but I don’t want to be around for the rest of that. There’s a whole (expletive) ecosystem around that I don’t even care for,” said Francisco.

Francisco has been ordered to pay $906 a month in child support.

In Oct, 31, 2009, DSHS was able to grab some money from a bank account Francisco opened in California. But then he closed it, and became Alex Martin.

Meanwhile, Christine lost their home to foreclosure. She’s also on the hook for his student loans.

We have been reporting for years on the whereabouts of Nicholas Francisco Well now he’s found… and honestly I am not happy about the outcome.

This is pretty much an outrage… abandonment, leaving kids at home.. just bad overall…. the icing on the cake is that he works for an ad agency. Agency spy pointed me to his article here and to that I am thankful.

This is pretty much the worst possible outcome, husband abandons wife.. runs away to another state.. changes names… leaves wife with bills and offers no child support..

great husband.

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Any Interpublic clients want off Microsoft’s ad system?

I want to start this off with a disclaimer, I am writing this as an opinion .. nothing more.. nothing less.. just my opinion on the Interpublic deal with Microsoft. As the CEO of a search and social media advertising agency I just have to call BS when I see it. This in my opinion is complete BS.

Forbes is reporting that Advertising Agency Interpublic is going to send their client money to single digit market share Bing rather than Google.

The move is widely seen as the “anything but Google option”, this is what the problem is. It’s not grounded on ROI for their clients, it’s not grounded in anything that benefits their clients. This is designed to waste their client money with a search engine that most likely will return very little ROI for their client… honestly the traffic is just not there.

“Any agency or client can chose other vendors to handle their accounts, but if they don’t specify, Microsoft will be the default.”

WTF? Measuring our log files of about the 400 sites (many of them that we manage for fortune 500 firms), we see that being on page 1 in Bing is roughly equal to page 3 in Google for the same keyword.. and honestly the use of the Google invented and perfected Microsoft Ad system is almost laughable.

Microsoft started copying the rough product of Google Adwords only a few years ago, and still really hasn’t perfected it. The ads on Digg are horrific to state the least in terms of relevancy.

Seriously Interpublic… what are you doing? Think about your clients next time.. and not yourself. If this doesn’t raise red flags across all your clients.. nothing will… seriously any interpublic clients want off that horrific ad system contact us…

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Ad Agency Titan Outdoor Holdings owes the MTA $18,000,000

It appears that ad agency Titan Outdoor Holdings is 2 inches from bankruptcy. The company is in the hole $18,000,000 owed to the MTA (Mass Transit Authority). The MTA is holding off forcing the agency to deliver the money for fear that it will bankrupt the advertising agency.

Nice Client. Too nice.

The fact is that this advertising agency shouldn’t be in business.

In order to avoid far-reaching subway cuts that would eliminate the M and W lines and cause trains to become less frequent and more crowded, the MTA needs about $18 million—the same amount a deadbeat advertising company owes the transit agency. An MTA audit revealed that Titan Outdoor Holdings has come up short on its monthly payments for almost a year, but the MTA is afraid that recouping the money might bankrupt the company, causing the agency to net even less revenue. Full Story from the Gothamist

The article noted that the Advertising Agency paid the MTA a flat commission rate, and evidently the ad agency didn’t report a whole mountain of income.

So how will the Mass Transit Authority punish Titan Outdoor Holdings? By rewarding them with a new “lower paying” contract rather than sending out an RFP to the 20000 other ad agencies starving for business.

Good Grief.

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