Doner

Sources familiar with the matter confirm to us that Craig Conrad, who’s spent the last three years as director of marketing and business development at Warren, MI’s own Campbell-Ewald, is heading over to neighboring Southfield to take on the “EVP, brand leader” post at Doner. Exact start date and specific role haven’t been disclosed, but spies claim that Conrad will be leading the latter agency’s Chrysler dealer/retail business, which Doner was awarded last November.

Conrad’s departure has to be somewhat of a blow to C-E, which just endured a fair amount of cuts in December. After all, he spent 15 years at the Motor City stalwart (which is approaching its 100th anniversary), moving up from account executive to supervisor to management and eventually his director post. We’ll hopefully have more info on this coming days as Conrad makes the transition over.

It suffices to say that 2009 wasn’t the best year for Alan Kalter, the former CEO of Doner who “resigned” last December and sold off the agency, which is now run by Rob Strasberg, David DeMuth and Tim Blett. Well, this flew under our radar until a tipster informed us this morning that Kalter, who came under fire due to the pension scandal and watched his shop endure layoffs due to the losses of account after account last year, is suing his former employer. According to the Oakland county website, Kalter filed a complaint in October and looking at the timeline, the case against Doner was still effective as of Dec. 2. We’re checking with Doner to see if the agency has any comment and get more info on the suit in the process. Stay tuned…

Chrysler continues dishing out portions of its ad business to an array of agencies, this time awarding Doner its dealer/retail account, which could be worth an estimated $500 million in billings next year. According to Adweek, Doner’s assignment is to produce dealer and retail-oriented ads for Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep as part of a year-end effort to clear lots. Lord knows after losing Mazda nearly six months ago, Doner sure could use a major boost like this. The Southfield, MI-based agency is also one of handful of shops in the running for Chrysler’s brand advertising, says the automaker’s CEO/chief marketer, Olivier Francois.  Read more at Adweek here.

Since yesterday, we’ve been deluged with tips that layoffs have been occurring at Doner as a result of the agency’s Mazda loss in June.

The agency responded to us with this statement:

“With the loss of the Mazda account we are currently working under our 90-day termination agreement. As expected, there are some employees who will be affected through layoffs. Out of respect for those affected, we will not provide further comment on this process beyond this statement.”

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as losing a big client generally equals major staffing cuts. From what spies are telling us, Doner’s Newport and Southfield offices have been hit hardest to the tune of 40 cuts, though this number is obviously unsubstantiated.

More: “The New Dawn of Doner is Upon Us”

The tips have been pouring in this morning that say Doner’s management team including Strasberg, DeMuth and Blett announced today that the agency has lost the Mazda account. We’re still waiting for official word from Doner that confirms or refutes these claims, but spies are already hinting that Team Detroit might have picked up the $150 million North American Mazda biz, which went into review in March.

Update: Looks like our tipsters were right on one count at least. AdAge has the full story, which includes the interesting tidbit that Mazda will keep the Doner-created “Zoom-Zoom” tag no matter which agency it chooses.

Update 2: After the jump, we have the full memo sent from Rob, David and Tim to staff this morning re: Mazda.

Update 3: Adweek reports that a team of WPP shops has won Mazda North American creative duties. WPP will create a dedicated unit to handle the automaker’s account.

More: “The New Dawn of Doner is Upon Us”

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We’re sure you were all waiting with bated breath for Doner’s great reveal of its new website and visual identity, which if you remember was conveniently announced by the new management at a Westin hotel meeting the same day the Mazda account was put into review. Well, now you can rest easy, folks. Besides prepping an already well-received retrospective for the One Club gallery, the new Doner A-team of Strasberg, DeMuth and Blett have unveiled the agency’s “new vision” that includes a revamped website (homepage above) and logo (below) which kind of reminds us of Organic‘s.

What’s the new mission statement you ask? Well, part of it at least on the Doner site reads:

“What’s your brand’s destiny? To stay number one or to topple number one? A brand needs constant energy, unwavering vigilance and a devoted belief in staying fresh. That’s where we come in. With ideas. Big ones. Small ones. I-didn’t-think-that-was-possible ones.”

According to the agency’s media site, the changes “have already sparked new business momentum.”

More: “Breaking: Doner’s Been Sold, Kalter to Retire”

As part of Creative Week in NYC, the One Club Gallery is celebrating 70 years of work from Southfield, MI’s own Doner with a retrospective exhibit in the Big Apple during May 10-16. According to the release, the exhibit will coincide with “the unveiling of Doner’s vision for a new era in advertising, complete with a fresh agency brand point-of-view, visual identity and website.”

Despite recent issues including the alleged pension plan scandal, the Mazda review, the departure of CEO Alan Kalter, and the loss of staffers to MRM among other things, Doner co-CEO/CCO Rob Strasberg seems proud to look at the past. In a statement, he says:

“We could not think of a better way to celebrate our heritage and future than with the most prestigious advertising society in America during the One Show and Creative Week in New York City. People tend to identify with our work itself and they don’t always know the agency behind it. We find that people tend to be pleasantly surprised to learn who helped shape the creative for some of their favorite brands.”

Some of the Doner work featured at the exhibit will include Tootsie Pop’s “How many licks does it take..”, “What would you do for a Klondike Bar?”, the Vlasic Stork and Mazda “Zoom Zoom”. One Club CEO Mary Warlick explains in the announce why Doner was chosen. “Over the past 70 years, Doner has shaped the pop-culture vernacular with many of their campaigns for famous brands and we are very excited to have a retrospective of their work in our gallery,” she says. “Now it’s their turn to enjoy the spotlight.”

More: “One Club’s Diversity Initiative Takes Step Backward”

This has gotta hurt: Earlier today Doner brought all of its remaining staff to the Westin for an announcement regarding their re-branding. We haven’t seen any of the schwag they handed out but word is it’s standard fare. Anyway, as one tipster put it: “So were sitting in the westin for two hours listening to this then we get back to our desks and go to adweek and tada! mazada up for review.” Here’s the story.

Also we hear they’re still checking IPs and shit so be careful when you tip us. Doner, stop being jackasses. Seriously, I’d hate to be the IT guy who’s sitting there watching everyone’s work. Terrible work scenario for everyone involved. Not that whoever is doing the watching should be lambasted for doing his job &#151 just saying it must suck.

More: “Doner Update: Short”

We’ve been tracking things at Doner where each day it appears to be getting worse. A couple things we’ve heard:

&#151 retention and recruiting = impossible

&#151 there are no more assigned parking spaces

&#151 a couple weeks back they lost the Northwestern Mutual pitch

&#151 shortly prior to that three of the agency’s already slim interactive team went to MRM.

More: “What’s It Like Inside Doner, Right Now?”

It’s been a few months since we reported on Doner’s Alan Kalter-related pension plan fiasco, not to mention the John DeCerchio payout and layoffs. But Choice Hotels win notwithstanding, a tipster tells us: “Doner’s Pension Plan scandal has finally gotten some serious government attention. The matter has fallen under the jurisdiction of the Cincinnati Regional Office of the Department of Labor, which has officially opened a case and an investigation is in progress.” We’re waiting for reply from the Doner camp so this is still hearsay at the moment, but holler at us if you know of anything else.

More: “Choice Hotels Assigns New Agency”