The Idea City has had a tough year, but here is the D+ rated agency's chance to prove they've still got the stuff. The advertising agency learned Monday that it will handle the L.L. Bean account, which includes online, print, television and radio. L.L. Bean's media and buying duties will still be handled by Mediaedge:cia. Bucking retail trends, L.L.Bean is looking to up their dozen stores to 32 by 2012.

Hold on, kiddos. Lets see whether Mark Taylor can bring some of that Crispin game play to Idea City. Roy Spence has got to be praying to Xenu that Taylor can make it happen. That's he Kobe ready to lead the troops to greatest. We shall see... We shall see.

Announcer: In lieu of the numerous emails we've gotten about Adweek's agency report card for GSD&M, it's time to play you favorite game show "Does That Make Any Damn Sense?"

(Queue 70s era game show music)
(Queue applause track)
(Enter stage left the host of the show, Super Spy)

Super Spy: "Welcome, welcome to "Can. You. Add?" (applause track) "On today's show we're going to be taking a look at some complicated numbers. Are you ready at work audience? Okay. Here we go. Add up the following account win totals:

HD Radio Alliance at $230 million.
AT&T's 411 and 1-800-Yellow Pages at $50 million
Cost Plus World Market at $30 million
DreamWorks/Toshiba HD assignments at $20 million
John Deere at $20 million
Small Smiles at $20 million
Hallmark's mass channel at $20 million
San Antonio Spurs project, Baton Rouge Area Foundation, American Stroke Association - under $1 million each, but let's round them up to an even $1M for fun!

And what is your answer? It should be $393M. Now add up these account loses:

AT&T media at $1 billion
Chili's Grill & Bar at $75 million
Frito-Lay's Tostitos at $40 million
Wal-Mart loss in late 2006 at $10 million

And what is your answer? One billion plus $125M? We'll give you a second." (Queue tick-tock sound effect) "Your answer should be... $1,125,000,000. Now, this is where it gets tricky. Subtract, yes, subtract the wins from the losses. That's $1,125,000,000 minus, yes minus, $393M. (Queue tick-tock sound effect) "And what is your answer? It should be negative $732M." (Queue applause)

"Now, why is this our question of the day? Adweek's report card for GSD&M reads: "Billings flat at $1.8 billion, revenue down 3% to $112 million on restated 2006 revenue of $116 million."

"This calculation has caused a flurry of activity in our inbox. Well, you just did the math. Either the shop has $732M coming in on their media buying side straight up or that $1B from AT&T was media buying and so the shop made some percentage on the buys that isn't indicated in this Adweek blurb. Hence, the GSD&M is not really losing a $1B, but some slice of that pie. All very confusing right players?
The labyrinth of billings in this business can be troubling some times and so, we ask that you all take these report cards with a grain of salt. Obviously, they aren't covering every nook and narrow nor being precise in their language. Don't be upset if the numbers seem fishy. It's advertising! Hell, in this case, it's Omnicom.

At home players, feel free to chime in on any discrepancies you see on this year's Adweek report cards. In the mean time, I and hopefully, you, too have learned a little bit more about this shaky financial ground we call the biz. Until next time and thanks for playing!"

(Queue exit music)

Remember how I mentioned that GSD&M was pushing further into Second Life with their partnership with Metaversatility? Cybergrrl Oh's asks five questions of Rene Huey-Lipton VP Director, Marketplace Planning Department for GSD&M Idea City's Second Life initiative. Rene, by the way, is a very likable with her quirky avatar and affable personality. Watch the entire interview above.

Questions include: What kind of investment is Idea City making into Second Life? The dollar figure for the agency's island is $25,000 with more spent on IdeaBots and other such Second Life things.

What kind of return is GSD&M seeing? Rene says intrigue, skepticism and relationships. She goes into more details, but that's the skinny.

What are the metrics that the company is using to measure their program? Rene's short answer - "viewer eye rolls."

Is it worth being in Second Life is question four. Naturally, she says yes, otherwise that $25K wasn't worth it. "Our purpose, for our company at GSD&M Idea City is visionary ideas that make a difference and we think that this is one of those."

How much longer do you plan to be in Second Life is the final questions. Answer: "Last man standing."

Tribble points us to a new scandal for the downtrodden GSD&M. Seems the agency is getting sued. The Austin Statesman, spends quite a bit of time following the turmoils of the shop and from their pages, it seems:

"The lawsuit stems from a national advertising campaign that depicts a man waiting to check in for a flight who is asked by attendants to spin a wheel for a prize: a seat on a large plane. A song similar to the theme from "The Price Is Right" plays."

The client, Southwest Airlines, is also named in the suit. The onus is on , owners of the show, to prove that consumers will be confused by the and say, head to the airline's website rather than that of the iconic game show. You might think this is an impossibility. However, consumers can be daft. Totally daft.

Agencies and brands are always getting sued. With their army of lawyers, you'd think they could secure this kind of stuff out of the gate. For example - take the Addams Family themed spots created by BBDO for Mars' brand M&M. The agency and brand cleared only some of the rights with the "Addam's Family Foundation," failing to clear incidentals on the usage rights for likeness of the characters portrayed in the print and TV spots. Mars is now being sued, though BBDO stays in the clear. Ryan Bowling, a spokesperson for Mars, said that it was the company's policy not to comment on pending litigation. C'est la vie.

Everyone is talking about GSD&M landing the renewal of the Air Force contract, which is good for the shop considering they've been doing nothing, but pro bono work. Good for GSD&M. Sort of... The original Air Force contract was $350 million over seven years, or $50 million per year. The new contract is estimated at $372 million over TEN years, or around $37 million per year. How is it that GSD&M can turn gold into straw? By winning, they've also kind of lost with a longer contract with less in estimated annual billings.

Don't you kind of feel bad for Idea City? Especially with that name, you might think they'd be able to get a clue. Staffers who still remain at GSD&M, Agency Spy loves you. We're wishing you the best in face of a your executive leadership. Gotta wonder whether Mark Taylor is starting to feel like he bit off more than he can chew.

From the press release:

"U.S. Air Force Selects GSD&M Idea City for 10-Year
Advertising Contract

~ $372 million estimated award value will fuel
marketing for Air Force recruiting ~

AUSTIN, Texas — April 3, 2008 — After a hard-fought competition and nearly a year since beginning the
process of vying to extend their seven-year relationship, GSD&M Idea City has been selected by the
Air Force for an unprecedented 10-year contract to handle national advertising, media and event marketing
duties for their recruiting efforts. The estimated value of the contract is $372 million.

The agency began competing in June 2007 for the contract after government contracting rules mandated a
re-competition for the business. The agency’s original seven-year contract with the Air Force was valued at
$350 million. "

Just a second ago, we mentioned that GSD&M has partnered with Metaversatility to begin taking survey and acquiring data in virtual worlds. See it here. We decided to take our own suggestion and ask Greg Verdino, CEO of crayon, what he thought about this new journey for Idea City.

"Strange indeed.

Virtual ethnography isn't a terrible idea – there are other companies walking down the same path and I think it's a path worth walking -- but I'm not clear on what any of this has to do with GSD&M. I know they’ve done some work in Second Life but they hardly seem to be at the epicenter of the virtual worlds movement. In theory, I'd think Metaversatility could have done this on their own – no?

Plus, I wonder if "lack of data" isn’t a red herring. I’ve never had a client tell me that they won’t experiment with virtual worlds due to lack of data;; lots of them shy away due to lack of scale, especially with worlds like Second Life and There.com. The real virtual world action seems to have shifted to youth-oriented worlds like Webkinz and Club Penguin and into worlds that seem to be more marketer-friendly like virtualMTV or inherently brand-focused like Virtual Magic Kingdom."

Full disclosure: GSD&M was a crayon client – but hasn’t been for a while now.

GSD&M has a project coming out of the gate. No, no. Don't be silly. It's a not a paid campaign! Although, the shop has partnered with developer Metaversatility to create a research program across virtual worlds, providing clients with consumer, product and experiential insight and knowledge.

Blink. Blink. Nope. That text is still there. GSD&M is getting into the virtual reality game. Insert joke about them having a hard time in reality here.

Idea City and Metaversatility have collaborated to "fill a gaping hole in the growing marketing channels that are 2-and 3-D virtual worlds" with this thing called the IdeaBot system, which "automatically screens and surveys market research panelists in various virtual worlds, including Second Life, allowing for a large and diverse selection of responses. Most importantly though, the IdeaBots allow for the research to happen in-world, instead of, like with other virtual worlds research offerings, being kicked out to the internet to complete an on-line survey."

"As exciting as virtual worlds are, we know that deep knowledge and insight are needed to ensure that they are effective channels for our clients and their business objectives. We are excited to provide our clients with a unique service offering, combining world class research, marketing and in-world build capabilities," said Rene Huey-Lipton, Director of Marketplace Planning at GSD&M Idea City.

Hey, Greed, Sex, Drugs and Money? Puff, puff, pass okay? You guys don't seem to be learning any lessons. Virtual worlds are amazing enclaves, but if the business has learned anything about them it's that they are places of escape and imagination where consumers don't necessarily want to be bombarded with real world antics like um, surveys. You are interrupting the experience. That's an even older lesson. Brands dabbling in virtual worlds need to do so with so much authenticity that they're bullet proof. Do you guys think that querying Second Lifers or those in Gaia is bulletproof?

You know what... go ask Greg Verdino of Crayon. He'll tell you all about it.

GSD&M is sponsoring barcampAustin. A barcamp is an international network of user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants, according to Wikipedia. This is one of those open environments where people learn, share, talk, chat and gather new ideas. Check out the video above to get a peak of last year's action.

This year the event will feature technology demos and discussions, live music, and even arts and crafts. Kudos to GSD&M for hosting! If you happen to be in Austin, go. The event is on March 7th and 8th. Stimulate the ol' synapses.

GSD&M recently hired Mark Taylor away from Crispin Porter. Now, the agency has added David Hennagin from Bernsten-Rein to be in charge of the agency's direct marketing efforts. This will directly pertain to Greed, Sex's current clients AT&T and Southwest Airlines.

Hennagin also pulled stints at DDB and TBWA. He replaces Jim Warren who is now a Transactional Marketing Executive, Direct to Consumer with an emphasis on Brand and Direct Integration (whew!) according to LinkedIn.

You know what we think? This isn't to be enough of a shock to the Idea City body. They need more new, inspiring VPs, a total refresh in the creative department (Taylor may help towards that end), a shuffling of the management and processes... Hmm... what else? Oh, Greed, Sex has got to do something about the morale of their current employees. It's beyond low. It's subterranean.

[source]

We just received two great comments about our recent post about Mark Taylor joining GSD&M that we had to create a separate entry. Enjoy and discuss.

"Was he actually a CD at Crispin, or an ACD? There seems to be some discrepency. Either way, he's got the chops, but does he have the stomach? It remains to be seen how he'll be accpted by the 8 Group Creative Directors who've been at GSD&M an average of 10 years. They're all guys, all older than Taylor and mostly none-too-happy to be passed over, plus they all took paycuts recently to help pay for the new guy.

And then there's the prospect of Roy's return to the agency. If Hillary doesn't get the nomination, Roy will be back and looking to re-engage.

Will Taylor stay longer than he did at Fallon? The betting pool is already active. "

And then this one:

"Your coverage of "Idea City" misses the big news around the company: while clients leave, new business falters, and valuable employees defect, the so-called "leadership committee" of long time sycophants has been consumed by internal squabbles. It's increasingly clear that the agency's much-vaunted "power of purpose" isn't winning in the real world. But our fearless leaders are tying themselves in knots trying to fit this shopworn idea into the mundane day-to-day work of the agency. When are they going to realize that the agency's branding approach has never actually been implemented because it doesn't actually work and that it's time to get real? The whole place is getting tired of waiting for intelligent leadership that has some clue about what we do and how advertising really works. Instead all we're getting is insanely complex new work processes that are designed to make sure all the tired old ideas are dutifully respected. Despite the new CIO, an exodus of talent is imminent."