The advertising world in Chicago is about as exciting as it gets. Back stabbing, begging, bullshitting… the city has it all. We recently posted a roundup for The Windy City. As we expected, the comments came rolling in. One particularly heated reader penned a scathing take down of DDB, as well as EuroRSCG. Submitted for your approval and your comments… State of The City: Part Deux.
“DDB did not lose any shootout to Euro. Ever. Euro picked up some Budweiser assignments because Ron Bess has been calling his old school connections in St. Louis nonstop, begging for work. Euro has not yet produced an original or even remotely decent spot for Budweiser. They did some Michelob work where the client literally instructed them to “shoot a spot like the Sam Adams campaign.” And they did. The Drinkability work was also dictated to them (I think DDB “came up” with Drinkability). And Euro’s Drinkability spots are far worse than DDB’s, which are pretty awful too.
AdvertisementAs someone pointed out in the comments, Euro is a direct mail shop with a few ad accounts. I know many people working there. They tell me that the direct mail (for clients like Citi and Sprint) accounts for at least 65 percent of the total billings, probably closer to 75 percent. Bess and Postaer didn’t turn Euro around. The direct marketing piece of the agency kept the ad practice from completely going out of business. The Kraft business is digital and direct marketing, not advertising. I wonder if the recent hiring of CD Martyn Dean is tied to the digital wins, as he once ran the Chicago office of Avenue A/Razorfish. Euro certainly has no credibility on the digital tip — their digital department is essentially about one designer and two programmers.”