Saatchis is back. With knobs on. Never mind all that messy stuff with
Maurice and Charles. And who cares about Dixons and British Airways,
anyway?
We know this, because the agency treated the influential media
journalists that are Campaign staffers to a knees-up last week to
celebrate its stonking ’96 (who said you can’t buy column inches?).
Senior management picked us up at our dug-out in Hammersmith in two
white stretch limos, then escorted us back to Charlotte Street in
champagne style.
But the journey into town was lined with a series of specially erected
posters, all bearing personalised messages for various members of
Campaign’s staff.
‘Caroline, we won Best Poster Campaign of the Year,’ a 96-sheet on
Hammersmith Broadway screamed. ‘Stefano, we were voted most admired
agency in Europe by clients,’ a bus-shelter on Cromwell Road read.
As we sped along, Tamara Ingram turned on the radio. Virgin FM was
playing and, hey, there was a commercial for ‘Saatchi and Saatchi, the
agency where nothing is impossible,’ with U2’s Mission Impossible as the
soundtrack.
There was even a special edition of the Evening Standard, an ad on a
loop at the Spectacolor site in Piccadilly Circus, two mobile vans and a
sandwich board.
‘Why don’t you demonstrate this much imagination with your regular
accounts?’ we asked, sweetly.
‘Fuck off,’ they replied, touchily.
