You’ll recall that Translation won the Bud Light account from mcgarrybowen in late 2012 — but it didn’t hold on to the business for long.
Throughout 2013 and 2014, BBDO’s Chicago office swiped that client piece by piece: first Bud Light left, then BBDO took Bud Light Platinum and, finally, Bud Light Lime one year ago. After the account changed hands, Translation shuttered its Chicago office.
Of course, Energy BBDO’s Pac Man Super Bowl ad for Bud Light earned quite a bit of attention in February. Mashable even mentioned CCO Mark Taylor by name.
While the business still resides with the BBDO organization, we recently learned that the account would be moving from Chicago to the agency’s main office in New York. This change follows AB InBev’s decision, announced last December, to relocate its sales and marketing teams from St. Louis to Manhattan.
The transition has, so far, not been entirely smooth for BBDO.
The agency refrained from comment on related staffing changes, but sources tell us that certain individuals in its creative department hired specifically to work on Bud Light in Chicago in late 2013 and 2014 have been asked move to New York. Others will transfer to different accounts handled by Energy BBDO.
Some departures also occurred as a result of these changes, though we don’t have specific numbers and a source claims that the overall effect on BBDO’s employee count was a wash.
The bottom line: BBDO will continue to produce work for the client, though its Chicago staff is now slightly smaller and its New York staff slightly larger.
Updates if we get them.