Saatchi & Saatchi

As far as self-congratulatory press releases go, it'd be hard to top what Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness has accomplished in just a few short paragraphs to promote their new blog. "Hot", "Pertinent, Poignant and Anything but Boring" is just the opening salvo in the release, which touts the blog as being "informative and entertaining" along with a little braggadocio about the group's "unparalleled understanding" of the wellness market. But from initial glance, the frequency of posts and topics of conversation do leave something to be desired (though in all honesty, it isn't easy to stir us up about wellness).

S&S Wellness MD Jim Joseph runs the show and states, "Some agency blogs read like 'a message from on high.' That's not my style. While I am the main author because someone needs to own it, we want to give our entire team -- the planners, the writers, the digital strategists, the account people, even our clients -- a voice. Wellness is, after all, about balance." And apparently plenty of hyperbole as well.

More: "Durex Launches Another Libido-Stoking Campaign"

He promises to keep your name and personal details completely confidential. But he would like you to let him know approximately how many people have been made redundant from your agency in 2009. This is M&C Saatchi Asia CEO Chris Jaques we're talking about, and he made this request in a recent blog post on Brand Republic.

Everyone needs to know the truth: the real facts, not the agency management's PR-controlled bullshit.

Because agency management throughout the region are lying, and it's the agency staff who are suffering. Management are telling the media that they have made no redundancies, so that they can preserve a false image of success and resilience.

Which means that they are happy for their staff to suffer for the sake of their own reputation. Which makes me screaming mad, for one critical and undeniable reason:

If agencies are denying that they have made any redundancies because of financial reasons — then those people who have been made redundant, must have been fired because they are not good enough. Which, in most cases, is simply not true. I've personally interviewed many, many talented people this year who have only lost their jobs because their bosses are losing money.

These lies could ruin careers. Possibly damage lives. And ultimately undermine the future of the industry.

It's unfair. It must be stopped. So we need to know the truth.

So please — please — let us know how many people you believe have been fired from your agency this year.

So that we can share the truth, begin rebuilding people's careers — and start resurrecting our industry.

Well I can't imagine any other reason an agency CEO would want to know how many people other agencies have laid off, can you? So here's what we're thinking: continue telling us about the layoffs if you please. All we're going to do with that info is vet it and post it here for your commenting pleasure.

Via

More: "EuroRSCG Cries Into The Pillow, M&C Saatchi Cries With Joy"

Is that CD Andrew Christou I see? Yes, yes it is. Hey Andrew.

Here's a question — do you agency folk still drive the cars you aim to sell? I hear it's bad to show up for like, a Mazda pitch, in a BMW (for example).

Anyway in the ad, Saatchi replaces nature with people dressed like nature. It's kinda like how sometimes nature or whatev is replaced with cartoony stuff or graphics et al. But like we said they used people instead.

Via

More: "Chew on This, Saatchi"

Recently, Fallon Minneapolis has been creeping back into the light with several account wins helping to ratchet up the momentum. And while, Fallon may have just been starting to shine on, recent developments have us wondering whether or not the shop is destined to slip back down into the darkness.

Al Kelly, who has been Executive Creative Director since 2007, has left Fallon. Where is he going? WE HEAR... that he's been interviewing with the likes of TBWA Chiat/Day among other shops. Why did he leave? You can take your pick from about 99 problems such as: Fallon's lack of serious commitment to building a digital capability; the intrusion of the Saatchi mindset on what was once a unique business and well, if you're getting courted by bigger, faster more dazzling agencies - wouldn't you bail on the tumultuous Fallon, too?

Digital Creative Director Chris Wiggins has quit as well. Too bad. He and his wife, Brenda Fogg, came up with the new social networking tool Skimmer, which was released under the Fallon banner. Just the kind of thinking death star agencies need right now. It seems that Crispin Porter recognizes the value of such ingenuity, because that's where Wiggins is headed.

Naturally, you're wondering who has been named to the ECD spot. It's Darren Spiller (pictured right) of Publicis Mojo Melbourne who was hand picked by the Saatchi overloads that run the SSF Group. From a cursory look at his resume, Darren is an accomplished creative director, but seems to have limited digital experience. No matter. Fallon CEO Chris Foster apparently wanted one of his own. If you recall, before coming to Fallon in March 2008, Foster was the VP, Global Equity Director at Saatchi & Saatchi New York. Our understanding is that Chris is still all about the business - running a ship in which account managers have all the say from traditional creative to digital and beyond.

And hey! Where does all this leave Dave Damman who returned to work under Kelly in 2007 to heavily support the creative team?

Who knows. Fallon isn't talking. Emails sent to the agency went unanswered. So, let's make some bets, yeah? Ten to one - Fallon will begin to farm out its digital work to partners rather than creating work in-house. Five to one - more talented, high level creatives and planners will be looking for the escape hatch. Two to one? If you love this business, right now, you feel a deep loss for the days when Pat Fallon's shop was blazing trails and burning up the industry.

More: Not Flash. Just SSF.

In passing, we mentioned that Miller has shaken up its roster. Here are the details: Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Young & Rubicam and Upshot have all lost their seat at the Miller table.

- Miller Lite is now at Interpublic's DraftFCB Chicago. They lost Killian's Red to Jacobson Rost and Keystone, too.
- Miller Genuine Draft, Keystone and MG64 are now with the New York office of Saatchi & Saatchi, which also holds Miller High Life and Miller Chill.
- Upshot's, a retail agency, has seen their account distributed across Omincom including The Integer, Digitas in Chicago and Arc in Chicago.

Got it?

More: Publicis Gives Shares To Its Employees

View Larger Map

Saatchi & Saatchi's Israel-based office has won a $7.3 million account to help improve Kosovo's international image. Congrats, Saatchi, and good luck taking on Russian backed Serbia, which until about a year ago had its thumb on the tiny (now) Balkan nation, and is held responsible for keeping the average Kosovanian man down.

Speaking of taglines...Kosovo, where vodka goes to tie one on.

Full Story

More: "Saatchi New York Loses Crest To Publicis"

An email went out to staffers this morning letting them know that Crest will be parting ways with Saatchi New York for sister shop, Publicis Worldwide. This is all part of a larger move for P&G, which has been slowly making the shift from one to the other. In April, Procter & Gamble awarded "a new unnamed division of the Publicis Groupe all of the marcomms activity for its Oral-B product line" and shifted to one of the few "pay per performance" business models in the business.

A Crest spokesperson told us in an email that:

"This is about agency consolidation for our Oral Care category. You may be aware that Oral Care at P&G has moved to a Brand Agency Leader model with Publicis as the lead agency. We started with Oral-B/brushes and this is part of that on-going consolidation bringing in Crest and some of the other Oral Care brands. There is now some realignment within the holding company and, for the most part, the Saatchi advertising creatives will move to Publicis."

All this means that Publicis will be taking over the $200M creative for Crest in the US and Europe. Now that's a big move. Still, it's an in-network switch, so be sure that Levy aint sweatin' it one bit.

More: Bob Isherwood Departs From Saatchi

We're going to open this one up to you readers. Do you love it or loathe the new JCPenney video from Saatchi and Saatchi?

More: Denmark Company's Promo NSFW

Toyota's Saved By Zero ads created by Saatchi & Saatchi just may be the most loathed spot of 2008. The song featured in the ad is from the band, The Fixx. Their frontman, Cy Curnin, recently told Esquire:

"They should have used the original. We had no real say in the matter. Though, it does get people talking about the song. Whether it’s pro or con—that’s a plus."

True, but this cover is pure, irritating junk. Consider the 5,000 strong Facebook group called, "Stop Playing Toyota’s 'Saved by Zero' Commercial." Oh that's fricking bad. Need more evidence that Saatchi went down a very wrong path. Check out the comments on this post, just watch the video above where one consumer has remixed the ad with horror flick, The Ring. Can you imagine if you were the CD on this account? Oh boy. That would just suck.

More: Instinct Times Square Billboard Finally Complete

Wang Fei, once an employee of Saatchi & Saatchi's Beijing office, has been the subject of a "human flesh search engine" - a more violent form of cyber bullying where thousands of people expose and post personal details about a perceived criminal. This was the case of Lori Drew who is currently on trial for allegedly driving a young teen to commit suicide. Web users determined her address, cell phone number and more on the internet, which lead to Drew having lynch mobs outside of her home.

What was Fei's offense? Having an extra-martial affair. Wang's wife blogged the unfolding story of her husband's infidelity before leaping to her death. An online mob quickly formed and in hours, Fei's identification, bank account numbers and other personal details were online for anyone to view. Wang resigned from Saatchi & Saatchi after the office became the subject of demonstrations.

Forbes has report that Wang is now suing the two internet portals where the cyber hunt took place for defamation and violating his privacy.

If you want even more details on this sordid tale, go here for a blow-by-blow accounting complete with photos.

"The use of the Internet to achieve social shaming, monitoring and ostracism, or for private revenge by private citizens, has become prevalent in Chinese society," Anne Cheung, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, told the WSJ recently.

Ruining a person's financial security and posting bank accounts and identifying information online is turning into a past time in China. In 2008 two other cases captured the rage of internet users - a man who disrupted torch relay in Paris and a girl from northeastern China who criticized those affected by the massive earthquake received similar treatment as Wang.

More: Back To Britain: A Closer Look At The Saatchi Boys