A little birdie (aka the Guardian) tells us the ridiculously large account-to-be-won from the UK Department of Health (DoH) did not go to finalist agencies AMV, VCCP and Wieden & Kennedy (most notably???).
The RFP asked for pitches relating to an anti-obesity campaign inadvertising, direct marketing and communications. The WK folks in the pic must be smiling a bit less this week. Below is from one of the team member’s blogs.
“We didn’t get the Department of Health anti-obesity project that we pitched for recently. Bummer. Reports say it has been won by M&C Saatchi. Congrats to them.It’s always tough to lose a pitch. Lots of hard work, lots of stress, and then — boom! It was all for nothing. This one was particularly disappointing. It was such a big challenge and we believed we had some great work. (Confidentiality prevents me from sharing any of it on here, unfortunately.) All you can do is present stuff you believe in. You win some, you lose some.”
Yeah, people lose $150M accounts all the time, and with it goes job security. Unless you work for Fallon.
M&C Saatchi went home with the prize and probably a whole lot of anxiety. The challenge — compel overweight folks not to eat so much. Has anyone ever tried English food? I say the strategy should be to open more Indian restaurants. Indian food is healthy, right?
Sorry for your loss guys, maybe next time.