Grey's Blamer to Succeed Ryan as CEO at FCB

NEW YORK Steve Blamer was happily introducing his new creative partner Tim Mellors around the Cannes ad festival in June when news leaked that Grey Global Group was for sale. The reports caught Blamer, long considered the heir apparent to Ed Meyer as worldwide CEO of Grey Worldwide, by complete surprise, sources said. That his boss and mentor had not given him a heads up was the most recent of several slights Blamer suffered in his fours years at the New York headquarters of Grey in New York, according to sources. And when WPP Group emerged as Grey's buyer, neither WPP CEO Martin Sorrell nor Meyer would commit either publicly or privately to Blamer as the eventual worldwide leader of Grey. So Blamer's acceptance of the worldwide CEO job at Interpublic Group's Foote Cone & Belding this week comes as little surprise, despite that agency's failed pursuit of him more than a year ago. FCB CEO Brendan Ryan and parent company Interpublic Group had courted Blamer heavily during the summer of 2003. At the time, Blamer, dynamic and ambitious, was eager to move up from president of Grey New York. He wanted Meyer to release the resources to enable him to hire a quality creative partner. And he was feeling snubbed when Meyer left him out of what was the eventual winning Kmart pitch earlier that year, sources said. Just as Blamer was about to accept the FCB offer in August 2003, Meyer came through with a promotion to CEO of North America (which put him squarely in line for succession) and some money for Blamer to hire a creative partner. In light of the new situation, Blamer stayed put. This week, Blamer, 48, would not comment on the past. On Wednesday evening, he preferred to talk about his future and the reason he decided to move to FCB now as opposed to 15 months ago. "The reason why this time versus last time has to do with [IPG chairman Michael] Roth, [IPG CEO David] Bell and Brendan," Blamer said. "They were all amazing forces in this situation, especially Michael Roth. He got actively involved in recruiting me. He gave me a clear commitment, a clear view of where IPG was going, and an understanding of the issues facing FCB both short term and long term. "The sale of Grey to WPP was another factor," Blamer continued. "It changed the landscape. Promises were made to me. But there was no clarity and commitment about what my future role would be and I was uncomfortable with that." As WPP Group completes its $1.3 billion acquisition of Grey Global Group, Sorrell must figure out by June (when Meyer joins the WPP board) who will succeed Meyer, 77, as worldwide CEO of Grey Worldwide, which includes operating companies G2, Alliance, MediaCom, Grey Direct and GCI. Sources have long suspected that the WPP acquisition made the Grey succession issue a three-way race in which Blamer would be competing against Carolyn Carter, head of Grey's EMEA region, and Joe Celia, worldwide CEO of G2 and president of Grey Synchronized Partners. Neither Carter, Celia, Meyer nor Sorrell could be reached for comment. Blamer said that FCB's offer this time was also bigger than last year when the shop wanted him to head New York, instead of succeeding Ryan, 62. Landing Blamer is a coup for Ryan who has been under pressure by IPG to find a suitable successor. Blamer is expected to start at FCB some time in January, according to sources, with Ryan continuing as chairman for much of next year to ease the transition. Ryan joined FCB in 1991 as president and CEO of the agency's New York office. He rose to worldwide CEO in 1996.However, it remains unclear just when Blamer will be able to join FCB. On Thursday, a Grey representative said in a statement that Blamer informed the company "that he has resigned his position with Grey effective June 15, 2005 in accordance with his employment agreement." The FCB rep declined to elaborate, and Blamer also declined to comment. IPG officials were not available for comment.In a statement, Ryan said, "Steve has always been one of our toughest competitors. Over the years, he's grown from a terrific ad guy into a great leader, manager and integrated marketer. When he took over Grey New York in 2000, [he] restructured the agency and recruited top new talent, he gave that agency a huge shot in the arm." Meanwhile, sources said that Mellors, who is president and chief creative officer of Grey North America and who had worked with Blamer at Grey in London in the late 1990s, will be running the Grey U.S. network in the interim. Mellors was unavailable for comment. The Grey rep said, "Steve Blamer is leaving for a job of a significantly different nature. It is a turnaround opportunity to run a global network of companies. We wish him well." Under Blamer's leadership, Grey in North America landed upwards of $700 million in new business with accounts such as BellSouth, Unisys, BMW Dealers, Cialis, Botox, Novartis, Kmart, and Smuckers. Its other clients include Procter & Gamble, Nokia, Hasbro, 3M and ConAgra. Blamer credits teamwork at Grey for all of the success and cites his biggest accomplishment as having, in part, changed the perception of the agency. "It was viewed as boring and stodgy and all account driven," Blamer said. "I think the creative product got much better." He also thinks the perception of FCB, whose clients include Taco Bell, KFC, Beiersdorf, Diet Coke, Kraft, American Standard and Abbott Laboratories, is skewed. "FCB has great margins, better than Grey Global Group," Blamer said. "It's been misperceived in the press. It needs stimulation and energy and it's a fresh new start for me at a time when Grey is going to change. At the end of the day, you have to be very comfortable with the company and who you are going to work for. I was very impressed with Michael Roth and the team at FCB."This story updates an item posted on Dec. 15 with an additional response from Grey.

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Grey's Blamer to Succeed Ryan as CEO at FCB

Kathleen Sampey

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