Art & Commerce: Pair of Aces

I needed a little inspiration to write this column, and it wasn't hard to find. First, I needed a metaphor to sum up the agency world of the past 12 months. I looked no further than my personal financial health, which bungee-jumped into a bottomless pit in 2002 (otherwise known as the Year of the Living Dead). Counterbalancing that, I knew this column would have a happy ending, as it celebrates our two biggest Agency of the Year awards. When business goes to hell as thoroughly as the ad industry did last year, it's easy to say everybody got burned. But that wasn't the case. As always, some shops not only endured but bucked the odds and found their own little slices of heaven. Like a lighthouse on a moonless night, they serve as a reminder that not even misery lasts forever. Rising above the wreckage of 2002 were Saatchi & Saatchi, Adweek's Global Agency of the Year, and Deutsch, our U.S. Agency of the Year for the fourth time in five years. The former turned to old clients for new work and also found itself in a creative groove that most other shops could only envy. The latter proved that it could continue to steal clients and thrive in its second year within a massive holding company. In the fifth year of the Kevin Roberts era, the Saatchi CEO's organic-growth-first strategy proved a formidable hedge against recession. That was especially true where two of the agency's largest clients, Procter & Gamble and General Mills, were concerned. (Saatchi has worked with each for some 80 years.) Of the $1.3 billion in new worldwide billings Saatchi added last year, more than $500 million came from dismantled Publicis Groupe sister D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles. After adding Crest, Pampers and Oral Care, Saatchi now handles seven of P&G's top 10 global brands. General Mills pitched in, too, giving Saatchi $200 million-plus in new business. Just as admirably, the network, led by its London office, has turned itself into a creative powerhouse. In 2002, Saatchi finished on top at Cannes, winning the most Lions by far. Saatchi London alone picked up 12, including Agency of the Year and the press and poster Grand Prix. Deutsch, meanwhile, continued to prove the old baseball adage that if you can do it, it ain't braggin'. In 2002, it seemed no account was safe from Deutsch. The agency won business in chunks from companies including Burger King, Starwood, MCI, Rev lon and Coors Light. It was no slouch in organic growth either, coaxing new assignments from existing clients JP Morgan Chase, Direc TV and Mitsubishi. When the ball dropped, bil lings were up by 31 percent to $2.4 billion, and revenue was up 35 percent to $272 million. But Donny Deutsch says there's still "a pissed-off-ness" at the agency, despite its run of success. The Saatchi story begins on page 14; Deutsch follows it. We will profile our regional Agencies of the Year next week, our Interactive Agency of the Year on Feb. 3 and our Media Agency of the Year on March 3. Kudos to all our winners. And to the rest of the agency world, better luck this year.

Brand Marketing

Art & Commerce: Pair of Aces

Jack Feuer

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Jack Feuer