In the world of direct marketing, agencies have to change
constantly and evolve to reflect the changing market, developments in
media and increasing consumer literacy - life would be horribly dull
otherwise. But when do a few staff changes become a new management
team?
When do a few resignations become an exodus? When does a bit of a
reshuffle become an entire revamp? And when does a new positioning
become a ’new world order’?
Those are the words used by Jay Bingle, the new chairman and chief
executive, worldwide, of Wunderman Cato Johnson, to describe the way
forward for a global group which many people believe has lost its
way.
Bingle came on board in April when his company, Capital Consultancy and
Research, was bought by WCJ’s parent, Young &Rubicam, and took the top
WCJ job as part of the package. CCR had been working with Y&R for some
months, consulting on direct marketing and internet-based services.
This was part of a larger picture which saw Y&R - the third-largest US
agency - going public earlier this year, in an Initial Public Offering
that valued the company at around dollars 2 billion. The company has
insisted that it will not use the IPO proceeds to follow the industry
trend of buying second-tier agencies but will instead focus on emerging
technologies, including database and direct marketing - WCJ’s core
area.
Bingle’s arrival and his plans for the future came after months of
questions about what was going on at the UK agency. Nobody could quite
put their fingers on a specific problem, but the questions and rumours
began in January when it emerged that John Shaw, the UK managing
director, and Steve Aldridge, his creative director, both resigned
within days of each other, each citing ’differences’ with the European
boss, Helmut Matthies.
Shaw had been managing director for the last six years of his nine-year
tenure. At the time of his departure, he said: ’My role was to manage
the company and if someone else is doing that job, it undermines my
role.’ The ’someone else’ was Matthies.
Other notable defections in the wake of the revamp included Peter Flett,
a board director who joined Grey Direct, the associate creative
director, Ken Muir, and the head of copy, Ed Fawcett, as well as ten
creatives.
A more recent casualty, ironically, was Matthies himself. He resigned
earlier this month and is tying up a few loose ends before his departure
at the end of the year.
Rumours are inevitable, and one is that he demanded to be made the
worldwide number two or he was off. Either way, WCJ effectively had to
start again.
That it did, by bringing in Charles Webre, the creative director of WCJ
in New York, as creative partner, joining Richard Bagnall-Smith, who was
promoted to general manager from client services director, and David
Butter, the vice-president of WCJ Europe, who operated from the London
office.
Gerry Docherty remained the managing director of the Ford business,
based in Surrey.
WCJ’s current management is happy to admit that the departure of Shaw
and Aldridge was part of this new world order. Bagnall-Smith says: ’John
and Steve left because the agency had been trundling along and needed a
good kickstart. A change of personnel was essential.’
When Bingle conducted his own assessment, he found that the senior ranks
didn’t have quite enough of the right people. ’We had the capability to
service all areas,’ he concludes, ’but not in enough depth. I’m
aggressively recruiting for new skills for this new world order. For our
individual markets to pick up new business, we need people who
understand these new areas and can adopt a more consultative
approach.
’If we take a more practical view,’ he continues, ’we need specialists
in creative, direct mail, databases, telemarketing, consulting and
everything in each market. That’s why you’re seeing the churn that’s
happening at the moment.’
Bagnall-Smith agrees. ’A while ago, we felt like the UK outpost of a US
agency, not as innovators locally. We had to not only focus on our
biggest strength - databases - but on our biggest weakness, which was
creativity.’
So what will the structure of the UK agency look like when Bingle has
finished with it? ’Alongside Richard, you’ll have a managing director of
database activities, one of internet services and so on.’ On top of
this, it is a badly kept secret that WCJ is looking for a chief
executive in the UK.
Bagnall-Smith is anxious to change the view that the UK agency is just a
limb of the US parent. ’We are charged with bringing in new business
like any ad agency. We can’t rely on international referrals for all of
our new clients.’
Consulting is expected to be WCJ’s largest growth area. ’The big
consulting companies, such as Andersen, are beginning to encroach on our
traditional business,’ Bingle says. Of course, his consultancy
background is an ace up WCJ’s sleeve and it seems to have paid off.
Bingle says WCJ has recently competed against major IT providers and
management consultancies in two separate pitches and won the
business.
Dissenters, however, have expressed concern that WCJ is losing sight of
its core values: direct marketing, for a start. ’The core business of
traditional direct marketing, such as direct mail, DRTV, creative
thinking, client services etc, is still a very healthy business,’ Bingle
counters.
’But other areas are growing faster, and these are the areas for our
acquisitions.’
’The whole point of us now is ’knowledge-driven creativity’,
Bagnall-Smith says. ’Looking at customer behaviour and insight drives
the creative product.’ WCJ’s new brochure is designed to illustrate how
the agency can get into the minds of its clients’ customers by looking
for their ’idio-syncrasies and secret desires’, and not just their ’age,
status and shopping habits’.
The brochure also demonstrates the new, touchy-feely WCJ, with pictures
of Bagnall-Smith, Webre, Butter and Docherty laughing and clearly
enjoying life. ’We have a riot,’ Bagnall-Smith says. ’It’s part of our
DNA. We’re human.’
