Goodby

We’ve been hearing about it for the past few hours on the Spy line and now we’ve received word straight from the source that it’s true that Goodby, Silverstein + Partners is cutting staff today. The numbers are all over the place according to tipster comments (we’re hearing in the hundreds and words such as “staggering” have been used), but the agency co-namesake wouldn’t divulge specifics. Read his note to us verbatim below:

“Today, we at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners have begun adjusting the size of our staff in the wake of losing Sprint and parting ways with Hewlett-Packard.  We don’t divulge the number of people or the percentage of our staff affected, but it’s commensurate with the numbers you’d have for accounts this size.

It pains us immensely to do this stuff, but we have a responsibility to the people here to maintain a healthy, vigorous company going forward.  We will have that, and are confident about the work we are doing right now on all fronts.

It is an emotional day.  These people are not just co-workers but friends.  As always in these situations, we will help them find other positions with an open heart and no doubt welcome many of them back someday.

Thanks for respecting their privacy about all this in the meantime.

Sincerely,

Jeff Goodby

Co-Chairman

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

San Francisco”

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From Goodby and prodco O Positive comes new television campaign “Homecoming” for Comcast’s Triple-Play cable TV, Internet, and telephone service, Xfinity.

If you live in a region where Comcast is the only cable service option available (as I do), you no doubt have gotten into three or four yelling matches with their “customer service representatives” when your service inexplicably goes haywire or completely disappears for weeks on end. If you’ll recall, Comcast made the Final Four in Consumerist‘s “Worst Company in America” tournament last year (after winning in 2010), only being knocked out of contention by evil ocean-ruiner, BP. This was, mind you, after Comcast was caught begging its employees to vote for competitor Charter Communications in the tournament.

It’s no wonder many Comcast subscribers turn to alternative services after their struggles lead to bouts of crippling depression. Some, like the woman in the above spot, turn to Verizon’s fiber optic network, FiOS. But, Comcast doesn’t mind, as they know you’ll come crawling back sooner or later. (They always do, don’t they?) So, when your foolish hubris spins wildly out of control, remember that Comcast knew you were stupid all along. That random increase on your monthly bill is actually punishment for feeling entitled. Credits, and one more spot that features crying and hugging, follow after the jump.

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On Christmas Day, the NBA returned after a 5-month lockout put the entire 2011-2012 season in jeopardy. The league’s shortened 66-game season kicked off with some very exciting games on Sunday which included a Chicago Bulls last-second come-from-behind win at the L.A. Lakers, perennial losers the L.A. Clippers looking unstoppable with the addition of point guard Chris Paul, and the Miami Heat avenging last season’s championship series by drowning the Dallas Mavericks. Also, we had Kevin Durant‘s disgusting shoes for some reason.

Of course, advertisers couldn’t be happier that America’s second most-popular professional sports league is back. Aside from media buyers rejoicing that prime time sports will continue well into 2012 after the NFL season comes to a close, creative types are giving a nod to the NBA. Above, NBA commentators Bill Walton, Steve Kerr, Kenny Smith, Spero Dedes and Jon Berry star in a new spot for Google+ from GS+P. The spot is one of three highlighting Google+’s “Hangouts” feature (the other two were created internally by Google Creative Labs), a critically adored but oft-ignored feature of the social network that has lost considerable buzz since its launch five months ago. Aside from the “Big Red-Head” and his buddies doing a very nice job commenting on an backyard game of hoops, the campaign features a spot that uses “Hangouts” to watch the Muppets rock out to David Bowie and Queen’s classic collaboration, “Under Pressure.” Like The Muppets (currently in theaters), it’s well-worth a viewing.

Also, we would be remiss not to give some mention to TNT’s epic opening day promo, “Forever,” which was directed by Sedna Films’ Drew Watkins. The above spot delighted NBA fans across the county (Kiran and I included) by pairing today’s superstars with legends of the game. Above, you’ll see the impossible become a reality, including Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant running out on court together, Brandon Jennings playing alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Michael Jordan fist-bumping Derrick Rose to Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors’ track “Live Forever.” Considering how upset and jaded NBA fans got over the course of the lockout, it’s stunning that TNT of all things was able to remind us why we love this game so much.

Jeez louise, in just the last half-hour, we’ve been inundated with tips from various spies that say Sprint is parting ways with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which has been working on the business since early 2007. We count seven tips in about 20 minutes (all different IPs) and here’s one of the most telling ones if true, verbatim: “At 11:20 GSP sent an email saying rush agency meeting, they are losing all sprint business, silverstein got the call from sprint an hour ago.” Tipsters add that the San Francisco stalwart has “180 days to close down the account.”

Suffice it to say that it’s been quite an interesting last few months at GS&P, what with the Chevy review, the HP split and now this if it’s legit. We’re checking with several of our Goodby contacts to see what’s really going on with this matter. Stay tuned…

Update: Well, looks like we were right. A Goodby spokesperson issued this statement: “Today we got a call from Sprint that after five years of working together we’ll be parting ways. We are phenomenally proud of the work we’ve done for the brand. We are moving on and are open for business.”

Good luck, Digitas. After the jump, a spy sent us what appears to be a celebratory note from the Publicis Groupe agency’s North American CEO Colin Kinsella. Read on.

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Even though we’re halfway through November and everyone’s now itching to get away for the Thanksgiving holiday, we’d be remiss not to mention that this month of course also signifies “Movember,” the annual event where agency people among others grow facial hair for good causes. We’ve glossed over some of the Movember efforts thus far (for shame), so we’re glad GS&P reminded us this morning via their own project dubbed “Goodby Silverstein & Moustaches.”

The GS&M initiative is being led by the agency’s creative coordinator and “team captain” Bryce Cline, who says, “The team Goodby Silverstein & Moustaches is something that ‘The Pit,’ those of us who sit on [third] floor who are interns and Creative Coordinators, are doing. We take pictures everyday of our moustaches and are compiling visuals with the pictures. But we wanted it to be bigger than us so we put up posters all over the agency hoping others may join.”

So far, about 17 Goodby staffers have joined in the GS&M effort, the goal of which is to help promote men’s health. Donations, meanwhile, have totaled approximately $420 thus far, though perhaps the poster featuring the giddy agency namesakes above might help the cause. But where oh where is Mr. Goodby’s stache?

While we’re on the subject and Movember, we should also mention that fellow Bay Area agency Pereira & O’Dell has also gotten in on the action. We mentioned it briefly at the beginning of the month, but might as well refresh your memory since we do kinda dig their Movember logo (below).

Update: Well, more agencies want in on the Movember coverage, so we’ll oblige. Peep Organic Detroit and Draftfcb SF’s salutes after the jump.

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For some reason, Bob Marshall’s piece yesterday on the Mother work for Chevy was misconstrued by some, including our old pal George Parker, who as we all know is never one to pull punches and once again, he didn’t disappoint. Parker and a few others (but NOT the actual commenters) interpreted Bob’s post as some sort of death knell for the Goodby/Chevy relationship, though it was really anything but.

It was meant to provide some background on Chevy’s agency relationships and recent related events before eventually segueing into the focal point of the post, which was Mother’s actual work for the automaker. Anyhow, to put you all at ease, though this shouldn’t have really been an issue in the first place (or warranted a response for that matter), we’ll tell you first and foremost that Goodby is still Chevrolet’s main agency.

Chevy’s work with Mother is strictly a digital assignment around the Centennial, though  Goodby also got a digital assignment promoting the same thing, which will break next week.  According to sources, Mother’s work is more “historical”; Goodby’s is “personalized and tech-forward.” Goodby still has all the brand work, not to mention this Centennial project (there will also be a Centennial TV spot launching the week of the World Series).

Now, if everyone actually read Bob’s initial post in the first place (like most commenters seemed to have), we wouldn’t have had to waste your time with this follow-up. Carry on.

 

We’re trying to get some official confirmation on the matter, but multiple sources are telling us that Goodby has parted ways with Rick Dennis after just 15 months (hell, we have even been told there was a party last night in his honor). Dennis, if you remember, joined GS&P’s Detroit office and served as ECD on the Chevrolet business. The exec joined Goodby after spending nine years at BBDO Detroit, where he eventually wound up as executive creative director.

Though AgencySpy is generally tasked with reporting on dark side of the advertising industry, we want to remind our readers that we get off just as much on uplifting news as we do soul-crushing news. After all, marketing types have been known to pay big bucks for bi-polar tendencies.

From time to time, agencies band together for real charity, not just the stuff that wins awards. One example of this is annual Fireflies ride (pic from last year’s event above), an advertising professional-led bike ride to raise money for City of Hope, a comprehensive cancer center located near Los Angeles. Now in its fourth year, the riders start at GS+P in San Francisco and embark on a 550 mile journey, ending at the Mill in L.A. The six-day trek is scheduled to begin on Friday, Sept. 23, with a breakfast served in GS+P’s parking lot.

In addition to GS+P and the Mill, other organizations supporting the ride include Believe Media, 180, Alive & Well, Deutsch L.A., Prettybird, RSA Films, Union and Zoic Studios. AICP will recognize the event tonight at the AICP Show and Next Awards in San Francisco, where riders will be on hand to take donations and give information about Fireflies. Okay, so an award show is involved in some way, but at least in this instance the event isn’t getting an award, right?

Goodby Silverstein & Partners has lured BBDO’s Ralph Watson to the Motor City to serve as ECD/associate partner, add to the Dte and share creative leadership on the agency’s Chevrolet account. During his time at BBDO, Watson served as ECD on the AT&T business (he was co-ECD on this spot from last year among others). Prior to BBDO, Watson spent three years as a CD at Saatchi & Saatchi New York on Miller Brewing, Wendy’s and General Mills. Says GS&P’s co-namesake Jeff Goodby in a statement, “With GM’s goal of making Chevrolet a global brand, we had an opportunity to bring in someone with incredible creative horsepower. It is all part of our plan to move more and more of the Chevrolet creative work to Detroit. We are delighted that Ralph can join us and offer his talents. He’s also a real mensch, and Detroit is a place that requires a lot of heart. Ralph’s got that.”

It looks like our post about Goodby, Silverstein & Partners’ logo and its eerie similarity to one created well over a century ago created enough of a stir that it merited a response from agency co-namesake/founder Rich Silverstein. A generous source was kind enough to send us a memo that Silverstein issued to the entire agency just two days after our post. Guess we’ll see if this clarifies things for all of you.  Here it is verbatim:

 

“From: Rich Silverstein <redacted>
Date: August 6, 2011 3:42:28 PM PDT
To: Agency Announcements <redacted>
Subject: Logo

Our new logo is old.

I’ve heard that people have been questioning our new logo.   Allow me to explain.  I’ve always loved timeless, beautiful things.  So it’s not a coincidence that the logo looks like a 100 year old ligature.  It was 100% intentional.  I found it in my library in a book of ligatures that I’ve had for 30 years and always admired.  I thought it would be nice to take something old and ignored and reimagine it.  And that’s what I did.

I enlisted the help of a few talented people in the company and with full transparency we took the beauty of the original hand drawn letter forms and conveniently changed the C to a G, removed the O, and added a P.

Appropriation is a big part of our culture.  Sampling is part of the modern music scene.  Andy Warhol’s most famous silk screens were made from other people’s photographs.   And Richard Prince blew up cigarette ads to make art.

Making  something old new again was my full intention and I’m very happy with the outcome.”