Direct marketing folk get a nice, warm feeling when hot shots from
the world of above-the-line advertising join their ranks. Daniel Morel
is one of those converts, and is the man carrying the flag proclaiming
that all of Euro RSCG’s below-the-line operations are part of one giant
and beautiful nation that is the Sales Machine.
And boy, does he look down on people who look down on direct
marketing.
’This is the greatest snobbery,’ he says. ’Well-trained and talented
advertising people have the greatest respect for these sales techniques.
Only those who embrace the advertising profession more as lifestyle than
a business would look down on direct marketing. It’s more complex than
advertising, more accountable and is controlled by results.’
Carrying that Sales Machine banner means making sure every one of the
network’s 100 offices - covering everything from sales promotion, event
and database marketing to sales force motivation and crisis management -
feel they are singing from the same hymn sheet. It’s about sharing
resources and skills, having a common philosophy and, of course, growing
business.
But more of that later.
It all started just over three years ago in France, when four of Euro
RSCG’s below-the-line units got together for financial reasons. Soon
afterwards, Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal joined in. Now every one
of the network’s offices has been stamped with the Sales Machine brand.
(The UK is prevented from joining in on the name front because the Sales
Machine trademark already exists here.) Despite that omission, it’s
still 2,200 people speaking 24 languages in 70 agencies in 42 countries,
contributing 20 per cent of Euro RSCG’s gross income of dollars 252
million.
’It became the rallying flag for all these units,’ says Morel. ’The name
and philosophies were adopted by more units who were charged with
generating sales. The Sales Machine pulled all these units together and
gave them a common system, practices and philosophy.’
He says the network cannot be compared with WPP’s Specialist
Communications group, arguing - bizarrely perhaps, given that WPP owns
Hill & Knowlton, Ogilvy Public Relations and a stake in Chime
Communications - that what he has got is far more comprehensive on the
public relations and sales promotions fronts. It’s a lot more like
Wunderman Cato Johnson’s offering, he reckons, saying: ’The beauty of
what we do and they do is that we offer all these disciplines under one
roof.’
And this is where the potential for business growth comes in. The Sales
Machine has 2,000 clients worldwide and is in the process of talking the
largest ones - such as Intel and Phillips - through the range of
business services with which it does not currently provide them.
Another new area for growth is the dotcoms in the US. Morel says a new
breed of client is springing up, one that is in a hell of a rush to get
things moving. It wants everything from investor seduction to logo
design and sales deployment.
And there’s still cash in Morel’s expansion war chest. Expect news of a
few more acquisitions across the US in the coming weeks. Iain Ferguson,
the chief executive, marketing services, for Europe and Morel’s
lieutenant on this side of the pond, is quick to underline that being or
becoming part of this network really requires common values. ’There’s a
difference between collected agencies and connected agencies,’ he
enthuses.
So, as Morel travels back and forth spreading and implementing the Sales
Machine gospel, more shirts get left between Paris and New York. He
recently moved his home base from an island in South Carolina to upstate
New York, where he lives with his wife and two children.
It’s satisfying that he is now working with a French company, because he
spent many of his formative professional years as a Frenchman working
for American companies. After a stint in the French Navy, where he
picked up a passion for sailing, and pocketing an MBA from Tulane
University in New Orleans, he joined Ogilvy & Mather in the US to work
on General Foods.
Steady promotion and various agency jobs took him to the late 80s, when
he set up his own company, FC Inc, helping clients set up on their own
with direct marketing services. After selling to Yves Rocher, he went
below the line big time as the worldwide director for Blau Marketing
Technologies (now rebranded as Brann Worldwide after its acquisition by
Dan Snyder), where he spent long enough close to IBM to fall completely
in love with new technology.
Describing himself as half way between an advertising person and a
technologist, he clearly adores high-tech stuff as much as Wordsworth
loved nature.
In fact, listening to Morel discussing his own love of nature is like
listening to the soundtrack of a too-perfect romantic film and then
hearing the comical rip of reality as the needle is pulled violently
from the vinyl. He says: ’When you get older you become more of a nature
freak - a tree becomes more important and a rock is beautiful. But
nature can only entertain you for so long and that’s why I’ve got a
digital compass attached to a Palm Pilot. It lets me download maps from
the internet and shows me directions.’
Ask Ferguson how much of a technology trainspotter Morel is, and he
replies: ’If he is an anorak, it’s a very stylish French one. Let’s just
say he’s an early adopter.’
THE MOREL FILE
1977
Ogilvy & Mather, assistant account executive on General Foods
1982
Compton Advertising, account supervisor on Procter & Gamble
1984
Saatchi & Saatchi (which bought Compton), management
supervisor/associate director on P&G and later on Avis, British Airways,
IBM and Gauloises
1987
FC Inc, chief executive
1995
Blau Marketing Technologies, senior vice-president, worldwide director
1998
The Sales Machine, chief executive
