Blind Item

We’re trying to post these blind items at a decent clip, but most of the time, the tips/emails don’t pan out…until now. Here’s something for you regarding a certain well-known agency where someone is allegedly faking the funk on a nasty dunk (to quote Shaq, circa 1992). Fill in the blanks as you will:

“_________ has recently allowed a new hire to report to work with his “service dog” although the dog isn’t registered as a service dog (HR never bothered to check!), the employee has no physical disability and the dog remains off leash and given free run of the agency (even insofar as going between floors alone via the intra-floor spiral staircases).  Employees who voice any dissent are quickly silenced; obviously the offender is a senior executive.”

It’s been several hours and seemingly 1,000 days since we posted a blind item, but might as well celebrate mid-week by dusting this category off. Apparently, one much-hyped agency is in trouble. We’re looking into it, but you can draw you own conclusions from this seemingly worried tipster’s comments (and we’ve heard this before about this certain joint). Time to play Mad Libs:

“________ office of _________ (formerly ______) has no clients, and no work, and should be shutting down in the next month.  Remaining staff told to go find jobs.  A classic case of a horribly-run office, short-sighted strategy of execs, and incompetent ostrich’s-head-in-the-sand management.  It didn’t have to be this way – classic mistakes were made.”

It has been a long while since we dusted the Blind Item section off, right? Pardon my redundant statement, but let’s cut all the pretense and bullshit and let’s get down with it Thanks as always, tipsters:

________ and _______  have left to follow [executive creative director]  _______   to ______.  There have been many creatives to leave ______  in the last year and a half. Many theorize that it has something to do with a certain ECD. But it could just be the endless all-nighters and weekends that are expected of employees there with little to no reward.

Who wants to take this on? Ready….steady….go!

Holy crap, has it really been three months since we’ve  posted a blind item? Come on ad industry, you’re more debaucherous than this. Anyhow, we dust off the category yet again to bring you this doozy and yell TGIF to the heavens in the process. A tipster tells us:

“unpopular, married with children, drunk ceo at ________, caught making out with hottie staffer at offsite party. shots and booze paid for by ceo. many witnesses and pics on camera phones. people shocked. now said staffer no longer works at company. paid off $$ to quietly resign. signed gag order. as did her husband. all staffers in attendance at party called in to hr next day. told not to discuss what they saw or know. not making this up. everyone at agency knows about it. just ask someone there that you already get tips from. this guy really f’d up. [now] he’s trying to cover his tracks. oops, too late.”

Hasn’t there been at least a billion guides to etiquette at an office party? For shame, agency executive, for shame. Who done it? You take your pick.

A spy sent us this little ditty this afternoon, which reads, “…this X-McCann New Biz guy is running around telling people that he and his new agency have the Denny’s account win in the bag. Quite presumptuous being that the finals haven’t even started yet…. Wonder who that could be.”

Well, technically, the finalists have already been named though, and the list includes BBDO, Gotham, KBS+P and Greenville, SC-based IPG shop Erwin-Penland. But someone’s still jumping the gun a bit, eh?

Anyhow, whichever agency comes out on top for the diner chain’s $60 million account will succeed Goodby, which parted ways with Denny’s after just 18 months earlier this summer.

More: “Denny’s Apologizes for Offensive Ad”

So, AgencySpy recently met up with an old friend of ours from a notable digital shop who tells us of a recent proposed get-together that never occurred thanks to the lofty demands of an agency that’s part of the WPP family.

According to our source, the shop’s new business development staffer reached out to introduce himself to the agency and mentioned, “maybe we should get together…do a presentation…the normal dog and pony show. Turns out the entry to do a dog and pony show for them (a place that needs help and partners) [is] we have to come to them and bring food…bring your own food and pitch!.”

After thinking about it, the shop came back and proposed that the agency come to them and the former would buy lunch. The agency replied and said they can’t come to the shop because it’s too difficult to get two dozen people to travel. Instead, the agency said let’s still do it at their office and the shop would still have to pay for lunch–though the agency did recommend caterers.

“Lol. So all we have to do is order lunch for 26? The balls on these people!,” an internal email from the shop’s biz dev person read. “Talk about not getting it,” our source adds. Ladies and gentlemen, please start your guessing engines now.

More: “Agency Tales: One Producer’s Air-Conditioned Nightmare”

Whenever we get a tip regarding a certain boss at a certain agency who’s being an asshole to his or her employees, it’s easy to just shove it into the blind item section and whip up a quick post since these things aren’t the easiest to verify and most of the time, it’s pretty subjective.

But in this case, we decided to dig in a bit more and try to get second opinions from other former employees who could verify what was being said by our original source, who alleges that this particular boss is “universally loathed” and several staffers have left because of this person over the past year.

So, we put out a few inquiries and someone finally stood up and had plenty to say about their time at this particular agency. Truth be told, there was little positive to be gleaned from the boss of our source’s department judging by the latter’s comments. Still, to protect the identities of all those involved, we’ve left out names, gender and major clients (yeah, we know it saps the fun out of it all). Read on after the jump for various assorted tidbits from this former employee (who in industry terms, let’s say, was a veteran) at this notable agency and draw your own conclusions on who they’re referring to.

By the way, we’re hoping to turn this into a weekly item, so if you feel like revealing your nightmarish agency experience, feel free to email us (and yes, it shall remain anonymous if you wish) at agencyspy [at] gmail dot com.

More: “Blind Item: Which Agency CD Allegedly Has No Patience for Your Grave Illness?”

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Apparently, respiratory illness and being absent for a lengthy period of time because of it will not fly at a certain well-known agency according to one spy. Of course, sour grapes could always be the case when it comes to informing AS of something like this, but here goes (and sadly, we can’t take credit for “the pneumonia” part):

“___________, Creative director at ___________ fired a well respected art director for being out 3 weeks with the pneumonia. On top of that, he didn’t even have the stones to do it himself. He had HR do it while he hid out in LA. He has refused to man up and explain to the creative why he could possibly justify it. Sad, little man indeed.”

More: “Blind Item: Which Agency’s Hispanic Division is Apparently Getting No Amor?”

According to one tipster, there’s plenty of grumbling within a new Hispanic unit at a notable agency. Hate when that happens. Read on:

Everyone at the…hispanic market division of _________ hates it. Most people say they were recruited with false promises and employee morale is depressing. Almost all of them feel duped and want to leave as soon as possible, but the system in ____ is so that they make it very, very difficult for you to do so, even if you have another offer from some other place. As soon as you’re hired you owe them your relocation, your sign in bonus, and are locked in for 3 years. The division is terribly under staffed and they are the only part of ____ that works 70-80 hour weeks. [The] dictator-like style does not work well with people coming from other agencies. That’s why [he/she] hires recent grads often, so they can be brainwashed and drink the…kool-aid from an early age.”

Time to play the guessing game once again, folks.

More: “Blind Item: Which Agency Prez is Reaping While the Staff is Weeping?”

Nothing like a blind item to shake off the post-holiday rust, and this one is rather interesting since it involves a certain well-known agency with a certain well-known flagship client that may or may not have sharply reduced its ad spending last year. Of course, this is all unconfirmed and could just be a case of sour grapes, but that’s the way the blind item world turns. Here goes:

“A ________ creative in charge of their big money ________ account has been taking money in exchange for work from post production companies in ______. Each company gives [him/her] a few hundred dollars, cash, every time [he/she] shows up with a job. [He/she] has had some serious tax troubles in the past and most of [his/her] six figure salary is garnished by the IRS.”

More: “Blind Item: Which Agency’s Freelancer Fumbles Cause Major Client Grumbles?”