JWT gains pan-European Shell at the expense of Esso... Lowe
Howard-Spink lands the Express Group... BDDH wins Mercedes, which ends
speculation about its future... O&M takes Impulse from AP Lintas... APL
takes Burger King from DMB & B and Compaq from Bates... Euro RSCG lands
the whole of Abbey National and its year only gets better... Roose &
Partners wins Kleenex... Y&R beats O&M to the Ford Puma launch... the
Body Shop appoints its first ad agency, BANC... French Connection asks
GGT to fcuk fashion... AMV takes BT Business from BDDH... JWT scoops
Kellogg’s media... Euro
RSCG says ’hello’ to Wonderbra and ’goodbye’ to the old ads... the Media
Centre wins the COI’s TV and press prizes... Burnetts eventually takes
Tambrands... O&M lands Kodak worldwide - for how long?... Rapier Stead &
Bowden stuns adland by winning Cable & Wireless. Much bitching
follows... Initiative takes the pounds 90 million Peugeot media prize
from a stunned Mediapolis... HHCL lands BA’s budget airline... DFGW
takes Commercial Union from Saatchis... Nationwide makes a surprise
return to Leagas Delaney... JWT lands the Oftel code change... TMD Carat
takes Royal Mail media from MediaVest... Rainey Kelly wins the Astra
Euro launch, much to Lowes’ and McCanns’ dismay... St Luke’s gets the
COI’s Welfare to Work, after Andy Law pulls the agency off other pitches
to concentrate on what may be the new Government’s largest
campaign...JWT ends the year well with the combined P&O Stena prize...
as does Chris Evans who - to everyone’s surprise - wins the battle with
Capital to buy Virgin Radio
LOSSES
JWT loses Esso to McCanns, much to McCanns’ surprise... Mediapolis is
hit by the departure of pounds 90 million Peugeot Citroen to
Initiative... HHCL loses Homepride to Y&R... Lowes parts company with
Lloyds Bank after 15 years... Lord Saatchi finally loses an election...
Bates Dorland watches Land Rover move to WCRS for many reasons,
including Robin Wight... Mercedes ’skidmarks’ isn’t enough to stop Leo
Burnett losing the client because of a Fiat conflict elsewhere... BBH,
after some dithering, loses Haagen-Dazs to Euro RSCG... Pretty Polly and
Wrigley’s follow Trevor Beattie to GGT... Zenith sees Sky switch to
Universal... TBWA Simons loses its prize Nike account to Wieden &
Kennedy
GEMS
The BBC’s ’Perfect Day’ (Leagas Delaney) just shades VW’s outstanding
price and Passat work and the Sharan poster (all BMP) as our overall gem
of the year. But is it an ad? We all know the answer to that one
really... We also love Coca-Cola ’blind man’ and others (Wieden &
Kennedy), Nike ’Park life’ (TBWA Simons) and British pork and beef
(BMP)... Other gems: Virgin Atlantic’s ’grim reaper’ (Rainey Kelly)...
Levi’s ’mermaids’ and shrink-to-fit poster campaign (BBH)... First
Direct ’Bob Mortimer ’ (WCRS)... Gary Lineker and Ulrika Jonsson talking
Swedish in Walkers Lites (BMP)... Lynx ’Jennifer’ and the naughty press
work (BBH)... Ford Fiesta TV and print (O&M), Ford Puma (Y&R)...
McDonald’s ’clever daddy’ puts some of its other work to shame (Leo
Burnett)... Budweiser press (BMP)... Smirnoff ’Smarienberg’ (Lowes)...
Legoland ’earthquake’ (BMP)... Nike ’do running’ illustrated print (TBWA
Simons)... Adidas ’Prince Naseem’ (Leagas Delaney)... Fairy Liquid
’rocket’ (Grey) - yes, for P&G!... Listerine (JWT) proves you can do
decent mouthwash ads. You try... Virgin Cola (Rainey Kelly)... Sony
camcorder and widescreen TV (BMP)... Mercedes ’Janis’ (BDDH)... Dollond
& Aitchison ’Burt Reynolds’ (Lowes)... Ikea was refreshing (St
Luke’s)... The Co-op Bank ’disability’ ad was original and not didactic
(BDDH)... The One-2-One campaign really took off, especially with Ian
Wright (BBH)... Reebok ’doppelganger’ is unique (Lowes)... Clark’s is
lovely (St Luke’s)... Batchelors Super Noodles is very funny (Mother)...
Marmite TV and posters are a hoot, literally (BMP)
BIRTHS
Mark Andrews launches Tsunami... Robert Campbell quits Tony Kaye to
start up Outsider... the CIA Group launches the Negotiation Centre (with
BT’s account)... Frank magazine flatters to deceive... BMP Optimum
starts well... British Interactive Broadcasting - there’ll be no getting
away from its 200 channels next year... Channel 5 and the Spice Girls
make a splash... Conde Nast launches Traveller ... Derek Morris, Andy
Tilley and Ivan Pollard form Unity... MindShare finally announces it
will be run by Dominic Proctor and Mandy Pooler... Christine Walker
finally plumps for M&C Saatchi and launches Walker Media
DEATHS
Malcolm Miles, former McCanns chairman, sadly passes away, so does Maddy
Berry... the UK version of Wired is scrapped... K Advertising folds into
Saatchis... Sloggett Connolly Bogaerde closes... Visa Delta drops
’kerrching!’... Simons Palmer sells to TBWA. The plan to have five
creative directors bites the dust... Cordiant dissolves itself... Barker
& Ralston becomes Mountain View... Sunday Business goes into
receivership... the Milk Tray man gets tigered... Ruby Wax is dropped
from the Corsa, before Lowes is dropped from the Corsa... David Abbott
steps down... HHCL succumbs to Tim Bell’s chequebook... BST becomes BDDP
GGT... Rowan Atkinson’s Latham is pensioned off... Guinness’s
relationship with O&M no longer makes sense
TURKEYS
Remember no pan-Euro dubbed import can be the golden turkey - that’s not
trying. The local agency has to make it and think it’s good. This year’s
turkey of turkeys is therefore RAC (BDDH), whose pretentious
documentary-style ads and bewilderingly useless posters defy
description... It was run reasonably close (but not really that close)
by both the excruciating Cheltenham & Gloucester commercial (Saatchis)
where an Eskimo boy smiles at the rescued yeti (never actually show a
yeti unless for comic effect), the dog’s dinner which was Independent on
Sunday television spot (M&C Saatchi)... and - of course - the Rover
’hostage’ ad (APL)... American Airlines’ flying eagle, Delta Air Lines’
shameless BA lift (Saatchis) and United Airlines’ ’rising’ (Y&R) were
all even worse than Iberian Airlines ’fourth largest in Europe’ and
Debonair (Mellors Reay) - unless we’re missing some irony. What has
happened to airline ads other than Virgin Atlantic?... Vauxhall’s Vectra
gangsters (Lowes) nearly top last year’s disaster... Robinson’s
excruciating ’Bob Holness’ saga (HHCL) and Fanta’s bewildering campaign
(Leagas Delaney) prove that soft-drinks ads can be terrible too...
Kellogg’s Corn Flakes ’Mornington’ (JWT) RIP... WACL ’our boobs’ trade
ad (oh dear) was a mistake... McDonald’s ’enjoy’ (Burnetts) - what’s
that all about then?...What’s happened to Holsten (BDDP GGT)? It’s a sad
to see how the mighty are fallen... We hope Burger King isn’t proof of
why Ammirati Puris isn’t Lintas (APL)... Lee Cooper is just sad (Grounds
Morris)... As is Yardley’s ’hand-cuffs’ poster (Gotham)... Adidas
’Henman’ (Leagas Delaney) was nearly as daft as Kleenex ’double velvet’
(Roose)... Finally, the Independent’s front page redesign and the D&AD
dinner at the Cafe Royal
BUST-UPS
Laser and the Network struggle to reach a 1997 deal... The Times
threatens the ABC over the Telegraph’s circulation figures... Tim
Delaney launches a crusade for greater transparency among production
companies and cost parity with promos... True North and Publicis divorce
but the arguing turns nastier... Tim Delaney and Andrew Cracknell face
angry production company heads at the Groucho... the minutage row erupts
following the Monte Carlo and ISBA conferences... the BT-funded Now
We’re Talking is deemed to have breached ITC rules, to the surprise of
all who thought it had been cleared by the same body... headhunters
storm out of the IPA building after Tim Delaney keeps them waiting for a
meeting. ... Graham Hinton attacks the ’cosy world’ of adland’s
creatives... the ASA slams the Consumer Association over a critical
report on ad regulations... M&C wins the Millennium pitch and walks into
a row over Bill Muirhead’s involvement... ISBA slams the ITC over
minutage... the interminable Equity voiceover dispute causes actors such
as Helen Mirren to pull out of ads like Virgin Atlantic... the
Government funks a tobacco ad ban and walks into a crisis...Budweiser
gives up in its dispute with the French Government over the World
Cup
EXITS
Christine Walker quits Zenith in January to general astonishment...
Trevor Beattie walks out on the TBWA Simons Palmer merger, starting
acres of coverage... Michael Grade resigns as Channel 4 boss... Amanda
Platell leaves the Mirror Group... Andy Tilley resigns from Zenith...
Jan Hall is the highest-profile casualty of GGT’s acquisition of BDDP
... Marcus Plantin exits the ITV Network Centre... Ruth Blakemore quits
Cable & Wireless in mysterious circumstances... Bates fires Tim
Ashton... Sam Chisholm takes his leave of Sky... Nigel Sharrocks quits
Grey and still can’t make up his mind... Trista Grant moves to McCanns
Sydney... Mike Tunnicliffe prefers gardening leave to CIA
THE ELECTION
’He is not satanic, but he is dangerous and wrong,’ Tory party chairman,
Brian Mawhinney, on Tony Blair... Chris Powell wins at last... the
Referendum Party somehow claims a victory, but not even the
Conservatives would dare (M&C Saatchi still ends up working for
Labour)
CELEBS
Fergie appears in a US Ocean Spray ad... Julie Goodyear fronts Shredded
Wheat... Harry Enfield stars in and directs Pillsbury... Hugh Laurie is
the new face of BT... Alan Shearer sells Jaguar, Asda and Umbro... Ruud
Gullit fools around for M&Ms... Gary Lineker and Ulrika Jonsson talk
Swedish for Walkers... Dani Behr and Ulrika Jonsson (again) turn up in
KFC... The Spice Girls are everywhere... Kim Basinger stars for Peugeot
but we have to be told who she is... Burt Reynolds is funny in Dollond &
Aitchison... Jennifer Aniston promotes both L’Oreal and Lynx... Dudley
Moore is reduced to Arthur’s... Des Lynam debuts for Right Guard...
Glenn Hoddle is dropped by Shredded Wheat after his marriage split
MOVERS
John Farrell moves to DMB&B New York... Sue Farr becomes the BBC’s first
marketing director... Billy Mawhinney leaves APL for O&M... Trevor
Beattie joins GGT, amid acres of coverage... David Arculus moves to
United News and Media... Paul Hamersley returns to London to run Lowe
Howard-Spink as managing director... David Jones leaves Lowes to take
over at the DMB&B group. The two are not connected... FHM’s Mike Soutar
goes to Kiss... James Brown leaves Loaded for GQ... Michael Jackson
takes over from Michael Grade at Channel 4... Tom Toumazis quits
Eurosport for Emap... Marc Mendoza chooses Mediapolis over WCRS...
Richard Hytner returns to adland from the Henley Centre with Publicis.
The sigh of relief is audible across town... John Stubbings goes back to
Dorlands not for the first time... Stewart Butterfield leaves Channel 4
for Granada... Richard Eyre leaves Capital to run the ITV Network
Centre... David Liddiment goes to ITV from Granada... Mike Court braves
McCanns leaving Hugh Burkitt high and dry... Chris Thomas joins APL from
AMV... Frank Budgen links up with Chris Palmer at Gorgeous, soon to be
followed by Paul Rothwell... Jay Pond-Jones eventually lands at Bates
via Mother... John Hardie leaves P&G for ITV. There is no-one among the
advertising community who wouldn’t wish him well... Phil Georgiadis
joins Christine Walker... David Brook leaves Channel 5 for Channel 4...
Jim Hytner leaves Sky for Channel 5, completing an astonishing
merry-go-round of senior marketers and sales directors among the
television companies
LEGAL
Phillip Glass issues a writ against BBH over the use of music in an Audi
A8 ad... Harrods establishes a precedent by successfully suing to
protect its name from Internet hijackers... Budweiser’s planned
sponsorship of next year’s World Cup runs up against the French Loi
Evin. Legal moves fail to resolve the impasse and Budweiser pulls out...
Paul Twivy and Bates settle out of court for more than pounds 300,000...
APL takes a pounds 1 million hit in its settlement of the Hugh Salmon
case... the Telegraph issues a writ against the ABC in the Times
dispute... Mr Justice Bell raps McDonald’s over pester power... Zenith
goes to court to enforce Christine Walker’s restrictive covenants...
Martin Clunes takes Publicis to court over pounds 200,000 - it’s worth
watching
QUOTES
’All we mark up now is 25 per cent.’ Peter Harrison on the costs row
’In the sum, two and two will make five, or indeed six.’ Jo Hoare on the
Simons Palmer deal
’A typical marketing person doesn’t make many ads and is easily
bamboozled by the creative process.’
ISBA’s John Hooper
’It’s like pissing down your leg - nobody knows you’re doing it but it
gives you a nice warm feeling.’ Andrew Cracknell on corporate
advertising
’On paper it looked magical. But the way it’s being executed shows scant
regard for the lives and futures of the people who count. It’s about
quality of life, not quantity of money.’ Trevor Beattie on walking out
of TBWA Simons Palmer
’The decision Trevor has to make is whether to join a team or stay a
prima donna.’ Paul Simons
’If you sit in the middle wallowing, the only option is to sell.’ Rupert
Howell (in January) on why mid-sized shops can survive
’I feel like we’ve been nibbled to death by ducks.’ Hamish Pringle on
K’s demise
’Be nice to Hamish.’ Various industry figures
’He could sit for hours, apparently motionless. Then, he blinked an eye
and you said ’yes, he is alive after all!’’ Tony Brignull on Jay
Pond-Jones
’I wonder how many managing directors have been fooled by a slick media
buyer into thinking they have a great deal because there is a big
discount versus station average price?’ Paul Polman, managing director,
Procter & Gamble
’When I walk into the office and people say ’good morning’, I don’t have
to work out what they really mean.’ David Jones on the difference
between DMB&B and Lowe Howard-Spink
’Like gilding a turd.’ Tony Cox on the obsession with technique in
ads
’Like having the Cup Final at the Den.’ Mike Cozens on the D&AD bash
at the Cafe Royal
’I’m not unambitious.’ David Elstein
’It feels a bit like when Doyle Dane won the VW Beetle.’ David Barker on
winning (ahem!) Kia cars
’All I did was live a life I’d highly commend to any twentysomething
single man with a decent disposable income.’
Alan Brydon
’Cordiant rubbishes Bates and Saatchis demerger rumours’ Campaign
headline (February)
’Are we talking about 13- to 19-year-olds?’ Mark Whelan in response to
the quiz question ’How many teenagers are there in the UK?’
’Was that the Tim Ashton who referred to creative independents as a
’bunch of old farts who couldn’t hold a job in an ad agency?’’ Bill
Thompson
’It’s not the obvious play on a very obvious swear word that the
original was.’ The ASA’s Caroline Crawford on ’f.c.u.k. advertising’
’It’s sanctimonious bollocks.’ Leon Jaume on the ITC’s banning of a Ford
Fiesta ad
’I wasn’t around to bathe in the antipathy.’ Mel Smith on reactions
to ’kerrching!’
’I don’t believe the appointment was a stitch-up and nobody has any
grounds for saying so.’ Jenni Page of the New Millennium Experience
Company
’I know the nature of the beast better than most - do you think I’m
being naive?’ Mike Court on joining Ben Langdon
’The David Gower of advertising.’ Andrew Robertson on Leon Jaume
’JWT is not at the top of its game. We have had
a quiet year in new business, and the work is not as good as it should
be.’ Stephen Carter on becoming chief executive
’Jaspar and I have worked together for ten years. Most humming agencies
have a strong management/creative partnership.’ Stephen Carter, the
same story
’If I do end up being Mr Patel’s corner shop I’ll shoot myself.’
Christine Walker
’We shot the ads in California using local props and stylists to achieve
a look that could not be done over here.’ Alistair Proctor on this ad
(left)
’Whatever you may say about it - and I myself have said one or two
things about it in the past - it is one of Britain’s premier advertising
agencies.’ Peter Mandelson on M&C Saatchi.
