Western Agency of the Year 2002: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

The Jordan cabernet was flowing, but it was helping only marginally. In keeping with tradition, bottles had been shipped to Goodby, Silverstein & Partners' pitch team to bring them good luck as they rehearsed in Detroit for their Saturn presentation. President Colin Probert and general manager Harold Sogard were to present agency stats and financials. Chris Chalk, director of planning, would review consumer insights. Founders and co-creative directors Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein would outline the overarching creative strategy. Jamie Barrett, the newest member of the team, would detail the incarnations that the proposed tag line, "It's different in a Saturn," would take. Things were getting tense. Three bottles of the California wine, which has been the agency's new-business talisman for 15 years, were empty. And after a run-through of the presentation, "it felt like the air was sucked out of the room," says Silverstein, 52. "It was hell." In what many consider the pitch of the year, the San Francisco shop was chasing the $300 million business against cross town rival Publicis & Hal Riney, Saturn's agency of 14 years, as well as Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore., McCann-Erickson, New York, and D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, New York and Troy, Mich. The next morning, the efforts paid off. Silverstein put his skills as an art director to work to bring the friendly Goodby culture to the auditorium in General Motors' Renaissance Center. Poster-size photos of staffers who had worked on the pitch, shot at local Saturn showrooms, decorated the wall dividers that Silverstein erected. Almost half of the creative ideas that were in play the night before had been axed. The strategy worked. Days later, Goodby won the account. Silverstein admits the win last January was "bittersweet," as it meant vanquishing his and Goodby's mentor and former boss, Hal Riney. But Goodby, 51, says the dynamic was also invigorating. "A lot of people thought we would be afraid to fight too hard," but in fact, he says, "it made us respectful of the his tory of the brand and made us evolve it to make it younger and more relevant in a way that made [Saturn] comfortable." Jill Lajdziak, the client's vp of sales, service and marketing, says Goodby was chosen because it "recognized the heart and soul of the brand. We had every confidence that they recognized what we'd already created and would help evolve the brand to where it is a bit more relevant to the consumer today." The win jump-started a critical year of growth for the Omnicom shop. Saturn and other wins, including Ace Hardware and Match.com, combined with more business from Hewlett-Packard, boosted billings by 36 percent to an estimated $820 million. Revenue jumped 37 percent to an estimated $70 million. For its financial performance, and for setting the standard for creative excellence, Goodby is Adweek's Western Agency of the Year. All this after an arduous 2001. Facing dramatic cuts in client spending, dwindling new-business opportunities and, by Probert's estimation, a 30 percent drop in revenue, the agency had been forced to lay off staffers for the first time in its history (the shop turns 20 years old this year). About 30 of the agency's 250 staffers were dismissed. "We had a dreadful time," says Probert. "Considering the circumstances, morale was OK. People felt they were really lucky to be working at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, a place of shelter in a very bad storm." The Saturn win reversed Goodby's fortunes. The agency hired nearly 100 new staffers, including some from Riney, boosting the head count to more than 300. It produced dealer ads for broadcast just weeks after the win, and followed those with "Sheet Metal," a lyrical tribute to drivers rather than the cars they drive or the people who make them. The spot, which broke in August, was one of the best-received brand commercials of 2002. Set to a piano score, not the techno or rock that dominates most auto advertising, and entirely devoid of cars until a product shot at the end, "Sheet Metal" was widely seen as a hugely inventive step forward for the category. But it might never have been made. The ad tested horribly, Silverstein says, with consumers calling it uninventive, silly and irrelevant to the brand. "The client truly in this case deserves credit for championing a spot they knew in their gut was powerful," says Barrett, 40, who wrote the ad. "We knew right away that we had a potential home run on our hands," says Saturn's Lajdziak. Since joining the agency last January as creative director, Barrett has focused mainly on Saturn. But his presence is felt well beyond that. "He's especially good at getting other people interested in working for him and with him," says Goodby. Hiring people like Barrett was a priority last year. In Silverstein's office, he and Goodby explain how smart recruitment is key to the agency's future. "One of the most important things you can do is find a way to reproduce what's good about the place, the people, but also let it grow," says Goodby. "It's really hard to do both." Several former staffers returned to the fold last year. Copywriter Harry Cocciolo, who worked on "Got milk?" in the '90s, now heads creative on SBC Communications and Discover Card. Art director Steve Luker, most recently a creative director at Riney, has reunited with Steve Simpson to lead creative on the global HP business. Most recently, Todd Grant, one of the creators of the Budweiser lizards, rejoined the agency from TBWA\Chiat\Day, San Francisco. With an eye toward increasing the agency's international flavor, Goodby also recruited the French team of Fred Raillard and Farid Mokard. While at Bartle Bogle Hegarty in London, they created the "Champagne" ad for Microsoft's Xbox, a spot that was both lauded and derided by the public and wound up a Grand Prix contender at Cannes, where Goodby was jury president last summer. "The depth of the creative department is amazing right now," says Simpson, a partner who joined the agency 11 years ago from Riney. "I'm not one to talk about golden periods, but this is kind of it." The confidence in their staff allows Goodby and Silverstein to pursue their own creative projects more easily. Recently they took off for a seven-day shoot in Paris for an HP commercial on which they served as creative directors. "It's more fun for Jeff and myself now," says Silverstein, explaining that the evolution of the agency has actually brought the co-founders full circle. Whether creative directing, writing or art directing, the two have the same involvement today as they did almost two decades ago. "We've never gone away from the work," Silverstein says. "We're always going to create."STATISTICSBILLINGSUp 36 percent to $820 million (est.)REVENUEUp 37 percent to $70 million (est.)WIN'LOSS PITCH RATIO4 out of 5ACCOUNTS WON/MEDIA BUDGET*Saturn/$300 million Ace Hardware/$30 millionMatch.com/$20 millionOakland A's/$1-2 millionACCOUNTS LOST/MEDIA BUDGET*Isuzu/$15 millionHIGHLIGHTSWon biggest creative pitch of the year, Saturn; helped steer global client Hewlett-Packard through complex merger with Compac; bolstered creative department with heavyweight additions; broadened flavor of TV reel with unexpected executions for Saturn and eBay.*Only largest accounts included.Sources: Adweek, agency reports and CMR

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Western Agency of the Year 2002: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

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