Mcgarrybowen

Dentsu Holdings USA has acquired mcgarrybowen. No. Really. From the press release:

"mcgarrybowen's New York headquarters, Chicago office and its digital arm, Continuity, will all continue to operate under the leadership of the mcgarrybowen executive management team, which now has access to the global resources of Dentsu."

The undisclosed purchase price is probably sweet and has also caused Denstu to cut its annual profit outlook by 20 percent. As we all know, Dentsu has been trying to get their US arm together for years now. One solution is most definitely buying a shop and mcgarrybowen ain't a bad one to poach. The shop has some nice clients including JPMorgan, Disney, Marriott International, Chevron, Pfizer, HP, Crayola, InBev, Century 21, News Corp, The Wall Street Journal and the Reebok.

Adweek also notes that "the independent agency will operate as an independent entity within Dentsu and report to Tim Andree, the CEO of Dentsu's domestic operations."

Dentsu has also snapped up San Francisco based shop Attik and the Santa Monica, Colby & Partners, in 2007.

More: mcgarrybowen: Who Needs Creative Merit?

Dressing up as your boss for Halloween takes chutzpah. Dressing up as your boss and pretending to sleep at your desk? Now, that takes some big ol' balls. ECD Haydn Morris of McGarrybowen put his gonads on the table this past Friday, taking the piss out of the big man, Gordon Bowen. Hmmm... guess that some people just got the cultural capital like that.

More: WSJ Picks McGarrybowen

McGarry Bowen beat out Publicis, Deutsch, Mullen and Trahan Burden & Charles for the WSJ account. The paper is technically, expanding their relationship with the agency. The shop will be in charge of creative campaigns for the brand and all of its properties including that horrible new Wall Street Journal magazine.

In other McGarry Bowen news, the shop lost Lyle Tick, a group managing director, who had been in charge of some big accounts including Reebok, Brahma beer and Verizon to Gotham. They also lost out on Philly Cream Cheese, which Nitro took home.

My question is - when is Reebok going to leave McGarry Bowen behind? The brand's new plan to make fitness fun for women is ridiculous. Where are the planners? That "Run Easy" campaign was total bunk. Sigh.

Reebok is owned by Adidas. I don't understand how Adidas can kick so much ass, while Reebok slumbers through the consumer market. Oh, well perhaps it's because of CEO Richard Prenderville (who we hear is difficult). Or, maybe it's because of the advertising agency. I'm guessing it's a whole lot of both.

More: Adidas Makes Out Like A Bandit At The Olympics

Kraft is a hot mess. Accounts here, there, at the same four agencies again and again. Here's the story:

JWT's Toronto office has been handling Philly Cream Cheese for about a year, but just lost it to New York agency, Nitro. Still, JWT will hold it down for the bran in 20 markets outside the U.S.

Now, Nitro beat out defender JWT, DraftFCB and mcgarrybowen. Sigh, okay, but mcgarrybowen is still holding it down. They just won Kraft's natural cheese creative account from DraftFCB in Chicago.

I mean really. It's exhausting. That picture up there is of Nitro's CEO, Chris Clarke. He's got a little Tommy Boy thing going on, no?

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It seems mcgarrybowen in NYC is on a roll these days. After winning JP Morgan and an assignment from HP, one has to ask what initiated all this sudden success.

Could it be some hot new hires bringing cutting-edge concepts to the table? Or a new division, offering services not once offered before?

No. It appears that award-winning, unconventional work is not how mcgarrybowen wins its business.

An example: recently, the agency won a piece of business from HP. Apparently, an environmental branding effort. SVP/CMO Michael Mendenhall gave this assignment only to mcgarrybowen and had the contract to move forward on his desk from day one.

Before his gig at HP, he was EVP of Global Marketing for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts... an account mcgarrybowen won a couple years back. Milking an existing relationship, mcgarrybowen simply followed Mendenhall like a lost puppy over to HP and went scratching at his door.

Same goes for JP Morgan, which was acquired by Chase Manhattan Corporation in 2000. mcgarrybowen started with Chase, moved on to JP Morgan, and is now secretly moving in on Visa. One of the top clients at Chase also happens to sit on the board over at Visa, and his vote carries a lot of water.

It's like a new form of nepotism - which is unfortunate. The business dinners might be nice - kicking back with old friends, but the creative is just "good enough" and doesn't push the standards of GREAT creative. Agencies in mcgarrybowen's position don't want to bite the hand that feeds them... especially since those hands seem to be the ONLY hands willing to touch the agency.