Update: Arnold New York was apparently also in the pitch.
Update: Becker of ACS called back to say he couldn’t share with us which agencies participated in the review, and that, “the final decision is yet to be made”. A bit contrary to what we heard, but informational just the same.
A source inside the Martin Agency tells AgencySpy that they have won the American Cancer Society business. The account went up for review in August, with incumbent TG Madison defending. We hear BBDO Atlanta and Mullen were also competing (there may have been others, which we’re looking into).
When we initially reported on the review, we told you that the biz had “quietly” done so. Andrew Becker, a representative from ACS said (during a phone interview) that he did not know which agencies were bidding for the account, but did mention that the plan was to announce the win next week.
Details on the extent of the business were not known by our spy, though we imagine the win is a boon for the 400 person Richmond-based agency. There are 50 more here in the New York offices — and we can certainly expect at least a few new hires to be coming on with this win. Dust off those portfolios!
A bit of bad news here; according to a source, TG Madison has laid off “a number of people”. Fuck. Recall that, “the consultant running the review said that the criteria set for the ‘new’ agency are set up so there is no way they can retain the business (large, multinational, etc). Since this is more than 50 percent of their billings, I believe, this could spell the end for them,” said our source on the first story. Hopefully the agency realized this and planned for the death knell.