DGWB Advertising, Irvine, Calif., is in hiring mode following its win of Toshiba America's $30 million computer division account late last month.
Toshiba becomes the largest account at the 70-person shop, whose billings now total $85 million. The agency will add at least one new person in each department to support the business, said DGWB executive creative director Jon Gothold. "We run a pretty lean business, so we will pretty much need to hire people all the way around," he said.
Gothold said when Toshiba launched its review earlier this year, it was made clear the shop with the best creative would win.
"They were looking for creative that would help them break out and look different," he said. "They were impressed with the depth and breadth of our pitch."
DGWB's addition of group account director Johanna Curgus, who worked on Toshiba when the account was with Poppe Tyson, did not hurt the shop's chances either, sources said. Gothold admitted as much, saying the hiring of Curgus, a staffer familiar with the client and its ongoing mood, was a strategic one.
The review was a particularly tricky one, said sources.
Late in the process, after finalists had been selected, an executive from Japan-based Toshiba who attended none of the final presentations was said to have entered the picture, demanding that the list of five be cut to three, which led to another round of "final" presentations.
JSM+ Communications, Santa Monica, Calif., and D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, Los Angeles, were the other finalists.
Incumbent Bozell Worldwide, which had earlier acquired Poppe Tyson, declined to defend the business when it went into review.