Seriously, aren’t you tired of hearing about Element79? The shop was once filled with Kings, the promise of the ad world only to recently fall far done the ranks to pleeb. We hear that John Fraser, President, New Ventures, is leaving Element for greener pastures unknown. Fraser could not be reached for comment and the agency didn’t respond to our phone call or email, so you know…
In a post on our long lost WordPress site (sniffle, sniffle), an entry called “Get The Crash Cart” by the long lost DownLow had 52 comments full of speculation and commentary about the shop. One poster said Fraser was going to say sayanora, but obviously, that didn’t happen. Who knows if dude is out this time? Tipsters say yes and really, how much longer is he going to hold on? In fact, the hard working team at Element must be shaken and stirred. It can’t be easy to keeo the nose to the grindstone while deal higher ups play a tough game of musical chairs.
Everyone was skeptical in 2002 when the agency spiraled from the breast of Omnicom with one client, Pepsi, which was estimated to be about $400M. Their name is a reference to gold on the Periodic Table of Elements and reflects the agency’s objective of achieving the highest level of work. For awhile they earnestly lived up to it. In 2003, they picked up Supercuts. By 2004 to 2005, the shop was nailing huge accounts like Yum Brands (valued at $40M) and Alticor.
And then, it started to slip away from them with Pepsi and Tropicana bailing on the shop. They lost Long John Silver’s. They did pick up Celebrity Cruises this past year, but that hardly makes up for the the big dollars of Pepsi. They couldn’t close the deal on Marshall’s, Orbitz, Jeep or New Balance, which ended up in the hands of BBDO. Much more has taken place including rounds and rounds of lay-offs and creatives bouncing from the agency.
Gosh. I’m not sure what the issue is over at Element. I’ve asked around and everyone seems quite dumbstruck. Little help please? Fill us in and we’ll post it so everyone can have a deeper understanding.
Email – superspyin at gmail dot com