Is Mars' Move a Bad Harbinger for Creatives?

TBWA\Chiat\Day loss nods to digital's supremacy

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Are classic creative agencies losing a step? Mars’ recent split with TBWA\Chiat\Day points toward “yes.”

On the face of it, the shift was surprising. The Omnicom agency was still adding business from the marketer as recently as last year, when TBWA\C\D, which produced award-winning work on Mars’ Skittles, was awarded Twix. Mars helped fuel the agency’s global expansion, and was worth $40 million in revenue to TBWA\C\D last year.

The shop had little packaged-goods experience when it received its first assignment in ’02 from Mars/Masterfoods, but five years later it was handling nearly 30 of its brands.

So what’s the lesson to be learned now that TBWA\C\D has lost Mars to its more-established corporate sibling, BBDO? Perhaps it comes down to this: With digital defining the ad industry’s most dynamic frontiers, being known as a creative agency may have lost the sheen it once had when competing against mainstream rivals fast...

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