Ogilvy's Chandler hire: creating a new blueprint By Shelly Garci

LOS ANGELES--Like the virtual company that's begun to make news headlines, large ad agencies are beginning to chip away at the walls that separate t

Such thinking was at the core of the announcement last week that Robert Chandler, the 46-year-old creative director at BBDO Los Angeles, would join Ogilvy & Mather here, teaming up with Jerry McGee, evp/managing director, as executive creative director. Chandler’s background on Apple and MGM, as well as a stint working with Michael Chrichton on the film Looker, fits well with Ogilvy’s client base, led by Microsoft, Paramount and Mattel. But Chandler’s role will extend beyond the L.A. office and its clients. Calling Chandler the “model” for O&M chairman/ceo Charlotte Beers’ vision, O&M executive vp/creative head Bill Hamilton said, “Clients are demanding solutions, and solutions don’t know any regionality. The model is to hopefully get partnerships between business management and creative and network them together toward any particular project and need.”
Another Ogilvy insider pointed to Creative Artists Agency’s inroads into the Coca-Cola account using a pool of freelancers. He reasoned that if traditional shops can re-create that kind of talent-pool within their own structures, they may be better able to compete with the likes of CAA and others who intrude on their turf.
Saatchi & Saatchi has for some time had in place past year, WWAD has used the expertise and personnel of Saatchi’s Torrance, Calif., office, which handles Toyota, to help win the U.K. Toyota account in London and the Belgian business for its Brussels office.
Young & Rubicam too used a similar approach recently when its Ford/Mercury Dealer account in Toronto ran into trouble. Y&R rallied three offices– S.F., Detroit and Toronto–to pitch a new campaign. The winning presentation, a humorous man-in-the-street campaign by Y&R/S.F., not only helped keep the business at the agency, it won a number of awards for the S.F. creatives, including the Canadian Television Commercials Conference, Northern California Addy Awards and One Show pencil. Y&R executive cd Peter Angelos said new blood was a key element to the success of the approach. “Anyone too close to the business would never have come up with that strategy,” Angelos said. “Human beings being what they are and not liking punishment have to fight real hard to go against the path of least resistance.”
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