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New Profiles and Snapshots

mcgarrybowen
mcgarrybowen has emerged as one of the hottest "new" agencies in the US, collecting several significant accounts in 2005 including global beer brand Brahma and a large chunk of the Kraft business to add to its flagship work for phone giant Verizon. Click here for an Adbrands Snapshot of mcgarrybowen (subscribers only). 

TBWA Germany
The local office of TBWA is among Germany's leading agencies. The agency has a strong portfolio of international accounts, as well as local giants Henkel, Siemens, adidas and Beiersdorf. Click here for an Adbrands Snapshot of TBWA\Germany (subscribers only). 

Euro RSCG Germany
Euro RSCG has a comparatively low-key advertising presence in Germany, although it operates several agencies in that market. Click here for an Adbrands Snapshot of Euro RSCG Germany (subscribers only). 

In the news this fortnight: Advertisers

Already under pressure from flat sales and consumer concerns over obesity, Coca-Cola faces a new threat to its reputation as a wave of negative feeling towards the iconic brand spreads through US universities. Last week the University of Michigan joined New York University, Rutgers and seven other leading colleges in banning all Coca-Cola products from its campuses. More than 100 colleges in the US and Europe have also hosted anti-Coke rallies, and student activists in the UK are calling for an all-out national boycott. The reason? Growing dissatisfaction regarding Coke's record on labour rights and environmental pollution. Since 1990, eight union leaders at Coke bottling plants in Colombia have been murdered, apparently by right-wing paramilitary groups; and the company is also accused of exploiting and polluting vital water resources near its plants in India. Anti-globalisation protests are hardly new, but a ban on Coca-Cola products in colleges strikes at the very heart of the company's target market, just at the time that it is struggling to rebuild sales.

There was further action in the digital content delivery sector this week. Google launched a video search and download service with partners including CBS (although a quick glance at the launch site at Google Video suggests that it has a long way to go before it becomes an essential web destination). Meanwhile Sky TV in the UK introduced Sky by Broadband, the UK's first internet-based TV-on-demand service, which allows existing Sky digital subscribers to download and view movies and shows via their PC desktop.

German press giant Axel Springer agreed to a compromise to appease regulatory concerns over its planned merger with commercial broadcast group ProSiebenSat1. The country's monopoly regulator blocked the deal in its original form because of the huge influence a merged group would have over public opinion. As a result Springer is reported to have offered to surrender Pro7, one of the TV group's two main channels. French commercial broadcaster TF1, controlled by Bouygues, has already expressed interest in ProSiebenSat1, and is widely expected to lead any bids for Pro7.

Golden Wonder, once the UK's leading potato crisp marketer, went into administration after many years of slow decline. Founded in 1947 by a Scottish baker, the company invented the flavoured crisp in 1962, and was the country's best-selling salty snack from the 1960s through to the 1980s. The relaunch of Walkers by Pepsico in 1981 steadily cut into sales, and Golden Wonder has passed through a string of different owners since then without any apparent impact on performance. The brand is likely to be discontinued.

In the news this week: Agencies

Highly regarded German agency Springer + Jacoby is set to regain its independence after several comparatively troubled years as a part-subsidiary of Interpublic. The agency regularly tops surveys of creative work produced by German agencies and is best-known for its work for Mercedes which it handles in several countries. Despite their creativity, however, the ads aren't doing enough to sell cars and DaimlerChrysler threatened during 2005 to pull the business unless that situation improved. Partly in response to that warning, Interpublic put its 51% shareholding up for sale at the end of last year. Despite hopes that the auction would attract several bidders, only one materialised. Publicly owned interactive group Elephant Seven, formerly a subsidiary of S+J but spun off in 2002, will acquire not only Interpublic's stake but also the minority shares in the agency, to create a second quoted, wholly German marketing group to rival Scholz & Friends. The deal is likely to complete in February.

London creative agency HHCL was reinvented this week under a new name, United London, and a new management team. Jim Kelly and Robert Campbell, two of the founders of Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe, now Y&R London, have acquired significant shareholdings in the agency, and will take over day-to-day control of the shop. The business will continue to serve as the London arm of micro-network United, split off last year from the former Red Cell network. 

John Webster, for many years the presiding creative genius at London agency BMP (now DDB London), died unexpectedly of a heart attack this week, aged 71. Webster was a master of character-based commercials, and his singularly British creations are fondly remembered by anyone who grew up here during the 1970s or 80s. Among his classic inventions were the much-loved Smash Martians (for Cadbury's Smash mashed potato), the Arkwright and dog campaign for John Smith's, the Honey Monster for Sugar Puffs, and the PG Tips chimps. Webster was still working part-time at DDB London until his death. Most recently, he had been involved with the Aardman-animated PG Tips campaigns, and the latest Hovis ads.

Among account changes this week, Nestle shifted all its media in France out of Universal McCann and into ZenithOptimedia; Havas's MPG was confirmed as lead agency on all Citroen's media across Europe. Initiative retained control of Unilever's media across Latin America, but faces a review of the Macy's US account. Virgin Mobile moved its US advertising into Mother's New York office; Kaplan Thaler took control of Pfizer's Lipitor.

Regards


Simon Tesler
Publisher, Adbrands

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Recommended Reading

Steal These Ideas by Steve Cone (Bloomberg/Kogan Page)
UK & European users

An excellent rapid fire collection of hundreds of ideas and anecdotes designed to build a brand or design a marketing campaign. Currently head of advertising for Citigroup Wealth Management, Steve Cone is among the most highly regarded marketers in financial services, and his book is refreshingly nuts and bolts. Rather than tell self-aggrandising personal anecdotes or offer vague generalisations, he tackles the real nitty gritty of marketing from a client's point of view, including areas such as handling your advertising agency, selecting a suitable spokesperson, creating a USP, even how to present advertising copy on a print ad. 

Although he covers all forms of branding and advertising in the book, Cone's particular area of strength is in upscale services and products. Not just financial services but also luxury goods, airlines and so on. That sets Steal These Ideas apart from other more general books in this segment, which usually concentrate on the fast-moving packaged goods sector. It's especially worth bearing in mind when considering some of Cone's most important lessons. For example, the closing chapter summarizes "the ten secrets you really need to steal" and "six reasons to advertise". The latter list offers, in order of importance: to motivate your staff and make them feel proud; remind existing customers why they are customers; generate new leads; recruit great people from competitors; get noticed by the press and gain more awareness from the public in doing so; and finally, to build the brand. Few FMCG marketers would offer the same list (or at least in the same order), but for clients in the service sector, Cone's ideas are inspirational, to-the-point, and refreshingly memorable.

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