Advertising Industry Archive

Robert Emmel, the former News America Marketing account director who alleged in federal court that his old employer bilked its clients by taking payments for hundreds of ad placements that never occured, has filed for bankruptcy. The filing comes after News America won a summary judgment against Emmel in a breach of contract lawsuit. In that suit, News America sued Emmel for turning over its...

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Y&R Brands chief Peter Stringham referred to Enfatico as a “challenge” in a recent mass email to the Dell shop’s staff, and hinted that some of what the agency was doing “hasn’t been” working for Dell. The email was a welcome message to Enfatico staff as Enfatico is folded into Y&R Brands under Stringham. While most of the email was positive, there...

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Vivaki boss Jack Klues and Saatchi & Saatchi chief Kevin Roberts both took compensation cuts in 2008, while their overlord, Publicis maestro Maurice Levy, got a pay rise, according to a French regulatory document. Roberts got €2.8 million in 2008, down from €3.4 million in 2007. Klues got €1.9 million, down from €2 million. Levy, however, received €3.6 million, up from €3.4...

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Accent Marketing Services, a customer service/call center operation owned by Miles Nadal’s MDC Partners, will lay off 163 of its 269 employees on July 31, according to the Kansas City Star. The Star notes: Accent Marketing has laid off hundreds of employees over the last year, including 180 in Winter Haven, Fla.; 425 in Hot Springs, Ark.; and 164 in New Albany, Ind. An Accent rep blamed...

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Cliff Freeman & Partners CEO Clayton Ruebensaal III left the shop after only four months on the job. See AgencySpy and Adweek’s essentially identical reports here and here. If you’ve been following the saga of Freeman’s freefall, you’ll know that this is merely the latest turn in a downward spiral that the shop shows no sign of pulling out of. The shop said in a...

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UPDATE: Peter Arnell showed off his new Peapod electric vehicle with Matt Lauer on the NBC Today Show this morning. The video (which you can see here) gives us three more pieces of information on this ill-conceived device. First that it will now be available at the earliest in October (it was previously reported to be due in spring, see below). Second, that when the machine is placed in reverse...

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It just gets worse for Clear Channel Outdoor: Goldman Sachs has downgraded CCO stock to “sell” on fears that Clear Channel’s parent company, CC Media Holdings, may be unable top pay its debt. The parent filed a note with the SEC April 17 giving a bare bones revenue report that was equally gloomy: revenue is down 23 percent in Q1 2009 to $1.2 billion, from $1.56 billion last...

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Y&R CEO Peter Stringham has given Enfatico 90 days to get its act together on Dell, reports AgencySpy. The blog’s sources say they aren’t clear whether the shop is on probation with Dell, or whether Stringham is merely trying to get the brand-new-giant-agency-from-scratch model right by banning distractions such as new business pitches. UPDATE: A BNET source indicates that...

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Gitam BBDO in Israel has created a video to alert clients and vendors they’re moving offices — but the spot makes light of layoffs at the agency (video below). It features an art director who arrives at work to find his stuff packed into a box on his desk. Misinterpreting it as a sign he’s been laid off, he storms into his CD’s office to blow off steam: Guy, you son of a...

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Lex Luthor had Superman. The Joker had Batman. And now Toronto’s outdoor business has Rami Tabello, an advertising vigilante who has dedicated his life to publicizing the way billboard operators ignore the law. Here’s his manifesto, on IllegalSigns.ca: Everyone should have a hobby. Our hobby is destroying illegal billboards with the rule of law. The outdoor advertising industry has...

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