Creative Angle: World Party

The Ad Store sells its name. Passport required If McDonald's can do it, why can't Paul Cappelli? With that model in mind, the 44-year-old president of The Ad Store, New York, has spent the last few years expanding his ˆ la carte creative boutique into an international network of like-minded souls. The objective: world domination--and beyond. Cappelli has secured the rights to The Ad Store name in every European country--and the moon and Mars. He's also waiting on a U.S. trademark to establish The Ad Store Wideworld. "Advertising is the only service industry [not to go] mass market," he says. "It's still put on a pedestal." The pedestal is the mind-set of the traditional agency system, says Cappelli, which is "100 years old." He taunts, "Change your underwear!" Cappelli's criticism comes from years of big-agency experience, including a three-year run as deputy creative director of McCann-Erickson Worldwide and stints at AC&R Advertising and BBDO. "I decided if I'm going to make a change, I'm going to roll the dice," he says. He opened The Ad Store in 1993 as a project-only, fee-based creative shop where a client can buy a single ad, an international campaign or a ready-made "bargain basement" ad created for, but rejected by, other clients. His Web site, which features these ads, caught the eye of Laurent Forlani, former worldwide creative director of BBDO, New York, who had also become disillusioned by his agency's size. "It was impossible to keep doing advertising that way," Forlani says. Paying Cappelli a licensing fee for the name (less than $100,000, says Cappelli), Forlani opened the Paris shop two years ago. Since then, senior creative teams, mostly with similar large-agency backgrounds, have launched The Ad Store in London, Belgium, France, Holland, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon and Tahiti. Next up: Spain, Germany, Italy and Hong Kong. The Ad Store Wideworld is about to sign a contract with what Cappelli calls its "biggest international client yet," an athletic line billing $20 million. It recently finished a European effort for American Express. Other clients include Imagine Software and Food and Wines of France, a French marketing group. In the agreement, Cappelli is payed a portion of the net earnings. As for quality control, he doesn't act as worldwide creative director. Instead, "if you disparage the brand," he says, "we go into arbitration within 30 days." It's that simple.

Brand Marketing

Creative Angle: World Party

Eleftheria Parpis

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Eleftheria Parpis