We were forwarded this note late Friday, one which George Parker also happened to cover on Adscam at that time. In case you missed it, let us apprise you that a few months’ worth of work on Victors & Spoils’ part appears to have all been for naught according a note sent agency-wide from creative directors, Kate McQuail and Noah Clark. If you recall, last August, the Boulder-based crowdsourcing advocates at V&S were tapped by Santa Monica-based agency, DonatWald+Haque, for a re-branding effort (“renaming invitation” intro video above).
Well, five months later, after presenting thousands of potential new names, McQuail and Clark have broken the sad news to the V&S community that DW+H ultimately did not select a winner. Still, despite the latter’s diss of sorts, we hesitate to proclaim it “the final nail in the coffin” for V&S like Parker, though as Chris Farley once said, it’s probably ” gonna leave a mark.” But why say more when you can just read the full aforementioned note, which also mentions a few money-winning DW+H ideas, after the jump.
“Hey Everyone ~
We know that many of you have been anxiously awaiting a decision on
DW+H’s new name for a long, long time now. This project began in
August and presented in October. Yet, here we are in January. So
please accept our apology and know that this is not typical of how we
operate. We pride ourselves on being communicative and timely and
respectful of your time. But this baby hit some unexpected snags.Unfortunately and regrettably, DW+H did not select a winner. After
much consideration and debate within their walls over the last few
months, they couldn’t reach consensus on any of the 1,500 names we
showed them. So the name of the agency, at least for now, will remain
DW+H.We know this is discouraging news. Trust us. We’re bummed too. This
was a great creative opportunity that would have been a nice addition
to your portfolio. But the truth is, this kind of thing happens in our
industry sometimes. No matter how many options we present to a given
client – it doesn’t guarantee they’ll like something.Regardless of the outcome though, a deal’s a deal and we here at V&S
are still going to pay you. Specifically we are rewarding the people
who had names that made it to the final round of consideration and/or
were some of our personal faves.So congratulations are in order to the following people for earning a
chunk of the prize money:Frank Coelho (Matter)
Jake Sullivan & Michael Ball (Well & Good)
Elisha Greenwell (Propeller)
Tu Vu (Samaritan)
It should also be noted here that there are often duplicate
submissions to projects like these, so we reward in the order of
receipt. That means that even if one of the above agency names is
similar to your idea, these folks simply beat you to the punch.So, there you have it. This is clearly not an ideal outcome, but it is
an outcome nonetheless. And one we don’t expect to repeat in the
future. Your patience on this has been truly remarkable and we can’t
thank you enough. As always, feel free to email us with any questions
or comments or concerns.Thank you.
Kate & Noah”