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Pile and Company - They can make or break your Advertising Agency

March 13, 2008

In the Advertising Agency world, there is a company that most people are not aware of.. other than the individuals in the higher sales and executive levels. The company in question is called Pile and Company… and they can make or break your agency.

Recently the firm has been doing plenty of both.

In 2007 , Advertising search consultancy Pile and Co. was hired to run the review for Weight Watchers International Inc.’s estimated $70 million advertising account

In January of this year, Zimmerman Advertising was awarded the 25 million dollar Friendly’s Restaurants business… by guess who.. Pile and Company. - Source

Publicis landed Talbots, but not by themselves .. Pile and Company, a leading consulting firm headquartered in Boston, MA, managed Talbots agency review process. Source

Remember the headlines from 2006, That Safeway had a quarter billion dollar advertising account in review… well… it was awarded… buy guess who? Pile and Company. Source

More and more advertisers and marketing departments are looking to Pile and Company’s Agency Selection capability. Using industry expertise, creative sensibility and process know-how, we work with clients to identify, select, and initiate the optimal agency relationship(s) in the areas of advertising, media, public relations, direct marketing, interactive, sales promotion and more.
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We counted several billion dollars worth of reviews that ran though those offices in Boston over the past 2 years. In fact, from our research it appears that 60% of all awards over 20 million dollars have ran though Pile and Company in the past year.

When industry insiders were asked the following question, What do you think about Pile and Company… the overall answer was ‘you don’t want to piss them off, they can make or break you’.

Of course, no one would own up to what defines ‘pissing them off’. The tone of the response we received was similar to investing in the market and expecting dividends?

Remember when Liberty Mutual selected Hill, Holliday of Boston as its agency of record. The agency bested Arnold Worldwide Boston; Euro RSCG New York; and incumbent kirshenbaum, bond + partners New York for the win. Pile and Company managed that review. The account was worth $60 million. Source

So exactly what do these guys do? The same sources say that Marketing VP’s select them as a CYA for their choice of Advertising Agency…. in other words if things go wrong, they can state to the CEO .. “I did what Pile and Company told me to do”

A call in to Pile and Company yielded this:

Agency ComPile, is our proprietary database of agencies and their work so we can find the best fit. It’s technically free to list…

What they didn’t say is if the free listing allows your agency to be on the short list for reviews.

Interesting world we live in.

Written by TheFounder · Filed Under Advertising Agency News 


Comments

  • http://xesenta.com/ ad rebel

    over 13 years ago - i worked for Pile and Co - when they were simple freelance recruiters! Skip and co were sitting up front, friendly and plotting how they would take over the pitch process with a sling shot.

    _and goliath hath fallen!

  • http://xesenta.com ad rebel

    over 13 years ago - i worked for Pile and Co - when they were simple freelance recruiters! Skip and co were sitting up front, friendly and plotting how they would take over the pitch process with a sling shot.

    _and goliath hath fallen!

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