GSD&M

AgencySpy has confirmed that GSD&M Idea City in Austin laid off a number of employees last week Thursday following news that they did not win the BMW US media account. A source familiar with the situation says a total of 33 employees were let go, less than half of the rumored 75.

The news that BMW chose Universal McCann for their media account came as something of a surprise considering the client recently awarded the creative account to GSD&M. Nonetheless, it is no surprise that the layoffs occurred.

A statement from the agency: "As a result [of losing the media business], we were left with more jobs than work to be done and we had to eliminate some positions. This was not a process we approached lightly and we did everything in our power to protect as many jobs as we could. We were able to move some people into new roles as a result of our recent new-business successes (BMW global creative and Ace Hardware), some people were offered the option of working a reduced schedule and we had to say goodbye to some of our valued people."

It is our estimation that there is frustration among the rank-and-file in GSD&M who for many years have witnessed the shop inject it's large GCD team with money. It's known to be top heavy and something of a retirement home for creatives. We use that phrase as kindly as possible, but many of the GCDs have been there for quite some time.

One top creative we're particularly interested in is noted author Luke Sullivan who some say is the best internal candidate for the ever-tumultuous ECD spot. The position was recently freed up when after about a year in the position, former Crispin CD Mark Taylor was fired. Many, including us, saw that one coming as Taylor had not been central to much of the agency's latest work, including pitches.

Sources tell us the ECD spot will likely be filled by someone with the creative chops (natch) but who also understands their role in the shadow of company head Roy Spence. GSD&M's representatives insist that Spence has taken a back seat to his former role, but sources familiar with the agency say whoever takes the ECD spot will have to salute when Roy enters the room.

It's our estimation that having spent a few years in the GCD group, Sullivan knows Spence's personality and when to bit his tongue. And considering the last out-of-town ECD didn't make it, it would make some sense to hire internally. The GCD group already needs preening, and placing Sullivan at the top would help meet that end.

But it's also the GCDs' salaries that come in question. Certainly those totals are expected to be high, but compared to their younger, less titled counterparts, we're told some of the top creatives are earning gobs more. This may be due in part to a promise Spence made a few years back. In or around the year 2000, three of GSD&M's top GCDs left the agency in a month of one another. Hoping not to lose anyone else, Spence allegedly offered huge salaries to his remaining team (6 or so) — we've heard upwards of $400,000, each — not bad for Austin. Years later, that amount has yet to be paid out, but the salaries have grown toward it.

And so the rabbit tumbles. More on this later.

More: "GSD&M Gets BMW"

GSD&M wins Ace Hardware — not a bad month for the Austin based advertiser, which has been mired by internal struggles, many of which we've published here.

Tribble Via Statesman

More: "Ace Hardware to GSD&M?"

We hear: GSD&M has picked up the Ace Hardware account, and will be announcing the win tomorrow. A call to the agency was not returned but the time this story was published.

The win would not be huge for GSD&M, but a victory just the same. In December of last year, the shop was in the running for the Home Depot account, which it did not win. That business went to Dallas based Richards Group.

The agency is also waiting to hear if BMW has selected them for media responsibilities. We hear it's between GSD&M and McCann. However, news broke today that Canadian firm Media Experts won the national account (in Canada). It was my impression that GSD&M and McCann were vying for the global media account, but that may have been incorrect.

More: "GSD&M Gets BMW"

One little nugget before we go — we heard BMW was planning to announce who gets the media account today. GSD&M is waiting on bated breath, no doubt. Anyway, apparently the automaker wants to make one more audit, says a source familiar with the matter, before a decision is made.

That should be made pubic by next Wednesday. Reminder: GSD&M was just awarded the global creative account for BMW. Link below.

More: "GSD&M Gets BMW"

Release: BMW AG has selected Omnicom Group's GSD&M Idea City (Austin, TX) as its lead global agency of creative for brand advertising communications. This decision is a significant step in the consolidation of global creative duties, which were previously shared among various international marketing agencies.

This is a big win for the agency. Click continued for the rest of this story.

More: "More GSD&M Info For Your Water Cooler Talks"

continued...

Saturday's announcement that GSD&M parted ways with ECD Mark Taylor could have been predicted. Over the last year or so you've told us time and time again about the ECD's dwindling participation points and the brewing conflict with Roy Spence.

What's maybe the most frustrating piece of this story was the agency's repeated attempts to convince the ad world that Taylor was doing more than could be seen. And he probably was — but when after a year his family hadn't moved to Texas from Florida, he still wasn't becoming the pitch guy and oh there was that time he was pulled from the Popeye's account well the gloves came off. In other words this news was predictable and some have said tragically obvious.

But whether it was upper management's insular inner circle (including most notably Spence Duff Stewart) or some other hidden factor that has led it down the current path, well we aren't sure. Here's what we do know:

— Marianne Malina is out as Managing Director of the creative dept. In that role she was an acting administrator and liason to Spence who we're told doesn't have the kind of hearing aid that picks up the creative frequency. She's moving back to account services, having never left the kohler account. She recently jumped onto the SWA account too. Our sources say Malina is was known around the office to say one thing then do another. There are others who operate under the same philosophy, which appears to be institutionalized.

— Greg Lane, former head of broadcast production, will be taking Malina's place.

— Luke Sullivan won't be moved to ECD spot as some had guessed, and it'll probably take awhile to fill that role. After Mark, someone with more experience is needed. Despite being busy with the book, Roy wants to be involved so someone who coheres with his ideas will be sought.

— The agency is still waiting to hear about BMW's media account, and should find out by month's end. If the account isn't won there will be more layoffs including other big names. Not sure which, though.

More: "GSD&M Fires Mark Taylor, 11 Other, Staff Pay Reductions Follow"

OK so in the first video people are pissed because a local Popeye's franchise in Minnesota (and also the only Popeye's in the state) wasn't honoring the company's advertised 8 pieces of chicken for $4.99. So um, why did the ad run in MN markets? It must have been a national buy...

In the second one people showed up for the same deal but some of the stores ran out of el pollo. That means chicken. And now I'm hungry.

One thing is for sure — people are passionate about their chicken. Wonder how the PR fallout is going.

Apparently like 98% of the franchisees participated and this was the biggest day for the company, ever. So, you take the good with the bad. This is GSD&M's account.

More: "GSD&M Shucks And Jives, Catches Some Heat For Popeye's"

Yesterday, I seriously questioned the Popeye's CMO, GSD&M as a whole and ECD Mark Taylor's judgement in letting such the blatantly racist and pathetically ignorant "Annie The Chicken Queen" commercial hit the airwaves. And here's where it gets interesting, according to sources inside Greed, Sex, the creative team allegedly fought against the spot. Here's just one source:

"As an employee there, let me be very CLEAR when I say that he [Taylor] as well as all other creative directors, and pretty much the entire creative Dept. [sic] actually fought this campaign to the bitter end. In fact, as you wrote in an article a few weeks ago, The [sic] higher ups in the agency actually went behind the creative department's back and hired a freelancer to do this. He is rumored to be pretty ethnically insensitive (but from the looks of his latest campaign that's obvious). Overall, Mark Taylor and most of the agency agrees with your post, that the campaign is offensive and stereotypical, but that's not what's being implied in the article. That's why I hope you do a follow up article to get the TRUTH out - That Mark Taylor and the creative department had nothing to do with this ( in fact, it's that freelancer who's producing it because the creative dept. wont be associated with it.)

Now isn't this interesting... we did report that CEO Roy Spence had leapt over the head of Taylor and selected a freelancer to perform ancillary work on the Popeye's account, but in no way did we think that Spence would let this guy's work be the pillar of the campaign; to be produced into million dollar nationwide broadcast spots. That's well, that's some big balls right there. We were wrong in blaming Taylor for the showing the green light to this work. Blatantly wrong and we appreciate the correction.

Now then, Mr. Spence and the CMO of Popeye's Dick Lynch have some explaining to do. You are both on the hook. Naturally, we reached out to Popeye's to see what they had to say about their controversial campaign. And guess what? They don't much seem to care, which surprises us quite a bit. Their response to questions about consumer concerns over the campaign, as well as the fact that the GSD&M creative team fought against the ad spot and that an outside freelancer had to be brought into to create the work?

"Annie," our new advertising character, expresses the heart and soul of the Popeyes brand. Her lively personality and energy underscore the pride, passion and authenticity that go into our carefully prepared, delicious, Louisiana-style chicken. We are proud of this campaign. However, we have heard conversations around the character. We are taking that feedback and are looking for ways to broaden Annie's appeal to our consumers.

Seriously. Speechless right now.

More: GSD&M Shucks And Jives, Catches Some Heat For Popeye's

Update: Popeye's responds with "We are proud of this campaign..." Read it all here.

Popeye's has introduced a new series of TV and radio spots using "Annie the Chicken Queen." GSD&M Idea City, Austin, Texas, created the spots. Annie is meant to highlight the brand's personality which is "honest, vibrant, youthful and authentic," according to Popeyes CMO Dick Lynch. What he really should have said is that the brand is trying to highlight it's myopic view of the world. He should also be fired (hasta pronto) for not understanding a damn thing about his target demo. Basically, Popeye's is trying to woo black folk. And hey - that's fine except when you start dabbling in stereotypes, messing around with "Mammie" imagery and turning off your target market.

All I have to say about this spot is: Go head wit yo bad self... you fucking morons. ECD Mark Taylor? You should be ashamed for green lighting this piece of trite trash. You're better than this. Meanwhile, the reactions on the web (from black, white, Asians and beyond) have been deservedly awful thus far:

From Bevy Smith on Twitter: "Annie the Chicken Queen on the Popeye's commercial sets the race back so FAR! Did Popeye's not get the memo about Pres.Obama? JUDGEMENT!"

From HopieSpitshard on Twitter : "It propogates an outdated stereotype. Why does she tap her scalp when she intro's herself? (In re Popeye's Annie Chicken Queen)"

From JBeckham7 on Twitter: "Just saw the Popeye's commercial with Annie the Chicken King... are you serious.."

From GeekyChic on Twitter: "Oh dear God. This Popeye's commercial with fried chicken-mama Annie is so blatantly stereotypical it makes my teeth hurt."

From kimberlyh183 on YouTube: "THAT is offensive!"

From Not1OfUrFans on YouTube: "Cism!"

Need we go on?

More: GSD&M Dramz: Roy Spence Likes to Stiff Arm Mark Taylor

For a few months now we've been receiving tips from various sources that all point to the same agency and the same issue. The shop is Austin based GSD&M Idea City, and the conflict is between CEO Roy Spence and ECD Mark Taylor. We're told that the two don't see eye to eye on creative — adding more drama to an agency that in our experience has been a tractor beam of dirt, scandal and the kind of sordid tales that make this industry so damn entertaining.

Here's what our spies have to say:

Code Name MineSweeper:

"I've heard there's been a bad falling out between Roy Spence and Mark Taylor recently over some creative issues on the Popeye's account. Bad enough that Roy kicked Mark off of a big BMW pow-wow in Munich.

A little more to the Mark Taylor story:
It doesn't seem like he's working on much, at least not directly. At this year's Austin ADDYs, GSD&M didn't fare so well. They entered four or five times the number of pieces as any other shop, but came in second in the gold medal count. Mark Taylor's name appeared in the credits of only two award-winners, and those were only bronze medals.

Cut to the Popeyes' account, on which Taylor is supposed to be the creative lead. But recently one of the agency's founders called a former GSD&M creative director out of retirement to submit some concepts for the account, apparently without Taylor's approval. The retired guy is known mostly as a jingle writer, which probably doesn’t sit well with a lot of the younger creatives. To make matters worse, the client likes the new guy's work better than the work coming from Taylor and his teams. Some unkind things may have been said on both sides as a result.

Maybe it's a good thing that Taylor never moved his family here."

Codename Solitaire:

"Big agency pep-rally held monday — all department heads gave updates in-person...Mark Taylor nowhere in sight/never mentioned...seemed odd to all.

Yesterday was the big HOME DEPOT presentation with a 750mm account in play it was one of the most important pitches in GSD&M's History—and guess who was the Executive Creative Director? Roy 'I cant keep my ego in check' Spence. Roy is growing tired or Mark Taylor and his sloppy, mumbly presentation style and has taken him off the project — Mr. Taylor did not even fly to Atlanta with the rest of the team.

Mark Taylor has also been asked (by the client) off of the signature Southwest airlines account as well — seems the clients were not buying his Crispin-style irreverence..."

"Apparently, the SWA client is not happy with CD's Derek Pletch and Scott MacGregor (known internally as the "idea—stealers") ...clients have requested those two hacks off the business and old CD's Brent Ladd & Steve Miller be returned to their post — this will be very difficult now that Steve Miller has been pushed out do to a creative run-in with ECD Mark Taylor during the Compass Bank pitch.

Taylor has grown exceptionally tired of dealing with the old-guard GCD's, and he's slowly realizing the feeling is mutual. Taylor enlisted the help of Maryanne Malina to aid him in persuading Steve Miller to exit stage left — she was eager to jump in and help — there was no love lost between her and Mr. Miller — they have had several run-in's in the past, her lack of integrity being cited as the main cause.

Yet another big mess created by Ms. Malina, AKA Roy's "chosen one". When will Roy wise up??"