Crispin’s Offense, Defense Score

Crispin Porter & Bogusky landed a new dot.com account and was re-signed by an existing client last week.
VirtualBank, an Internet operation based in Palm Beach, Fla., hired the Miami shop as its first agency without a review. CP&B also successfully defended the Florida Department of Health’s $30 million anti-tobacco account.
Though VirtualBank’s budget is undetermined, agency chairman Chuck Porter said $5-6 million was a “realistic” number. He also said the dot.com, which will have one brick-and-mortar location in Palm Beach and initially strategize as a b-to-b entity, was the first to work an equity agreement with the agency.
“These guys are going to rock because they’re bankers, but they understand the [dot.com] business,” Porter said. “They’re designed to be an online bank, they’re customized to be an online bank. They will be faster and more efficient [than established banks that go online].”
Though Florida ad observers whispered the FDH account would move following the election of Gov. Jeb Bush, CP&B’s successful “Truth” campaign–which reduced teen smoking 18 percent in middle schools and 9 percent in high schools, according to the state–topped one challenger, the Miami office of BVK/McDonald.
“We did have some concerns,” admitted Porter. “We don’t do a lot of political business and we’re not very savvy that way.”