snapple axes the snapple lady

It’s official, the Snapple lady is officially the ex-Snapple lady. Which could get really awkward if someone like Coke signs her up to talk about how much better Vitamin Water tastes…

I really like the Snapple lady and the commercials featuring her:

Snapple seems convinced that walking away from who they are is going to stem the slide they have experienced through a mix of mismanagement, competition and walking away from who they are.

Snapple was a great brand, a brand that people loved. They loved the brand because of the virtues embodied by Wendy. The brand was approachable, authentic and humorous. Now it’s just a weird mish-mash of crap.

But hey, at least it’s a weird mish-mash of crap that will look good on a Brand Manager’s resume as they shuttle through brands, sticking around long enough only to change things and then move on.

Yes, I am cynical about Brand Managers.

Wendy Kauffman, the Snapple lady, said that she was offered a derisory contract, “I just couldn’t accept the contract because it was so one-sided and worth nothing.” The contract would have paid her for appearances without a promise that any would materialize, she said…and knowing Snapple, no promise that any would materialize means that none would materialize.

Why walk away from a heritage that people like? I just don’t get it.

the dr pepper account goes to an old friend

Yet again, the Daily (Ad) Biz was right. I have been posting for a while – just search Dr Pepper or Cadbury Schweppes if you would like the history – about the imminent loss of the Dr Pepper account byY&R San Francisco.

If I had been in town and posting I would have reported it earlier, but in this case AdWeek beat me to it.

Dr Pepper, which at first pretended that the pitch was only for the “drink slowly to enjoy the more flavors of Dr Pepper” before admitting that it was actually for the whole brand ($35 million in ad spending last year), has chosen Deutsch/LA.

“We looked at a number of agencies, and each of them brought its own unique vision to the project,” said Sean Gleason, client svp, in a statement. “However, the Deutsch/LA team brought an approach that quickly grew into more than a project. Much more. We feel we have an exciting new campaign for Dr Pepper.”

What Mr Gleason is not saying, however, is that he has a dear old friend at Deutsch/LA…just like he has a buddy at Initiative…and he even has a good mate at Source Marketing, a promotions agency that he just brought into the fold. I am not saying that the pitch was unfair, just that a Plano-based e-mailer finds the whole thing curious and so do I.

At any rate, the agency clear-out that I predicted is happening at full speed.

Note to interactive agency VML, aka “The Last Agency Standing”: if you or one of your agency’s muckety-mucks is not very good friends from back in the day with that Gleason character then I would be nervous. Very nervous.

The worst part of all of this is that Dr Pepper as a brand is actually doing well compared to the competition and category. According to the Wall Street Journal from March 13, Dr Pepper’s volume is down but by less than half as much as Coke and Pepsi. It’s market share has even improved!

If you look at Cadbury Schweppes as a whole, their volume is down as well, but again it is down less than half as much as Coke and Pepsi and it is the only major beverages company (here we are ignoring small companies like Red Bull, Rockstar, etc) to have gained market share.

But hey, why not replace the Media Agency of the Year and why not fire your ad agency since the 1960s and hire an agency with no category experience?

I mean, the brand really needs a shake-up…especially if that shake-up allows a certain SVP to hire his buddies’ agencies.

the dr pepper account is up for grabs

Wow, that was quick. This blog thing is fantastic – it keeps agencies and, most importantly, clients honest about what they are doing in the otherwise shady world of advertising by way of concerned commenters and e-mail tipsters. Just a few hours after posting about Cliff Freeman trolling for new brand business, the word on what Cliff Freeman is on about is officially published:

Senor Freeman and agency are on the hunt for Dr Pepper (and probably Sunkist, 7UP and maybe even A&W) as additions to the agency roster.

The initial challenge is Dr Pepper, with Cliff Freeman in a four-way scramble for the business against incumbent Y&R, Droga5 and – how do they belong – Deutsch LA. That is going to be a doozy…and not only because Y&R is unlikely to retain the business considering that WPP cousin Mediaedge was just shown the door and WPP-owned interactive agency VML is on thin ice…oh, and that Y&R’s work was only so-so. Good times at Cadbury Schweppes. Better times at Y&R.

I guess that is what a re-org (and a bunch of client-side douchebags) will do to agency relationships.

That, and a senior management team spearheaded by people who think that it’s okay to pitch agencies against each other anonymously (a tipster tells us the Y&R only found out about the four-way fight for Dr Pepper after this Ad week article. Ouch.)

The unverified word is that Dr Pepper has a new insight that it has briefed the agencies on, and the agency that comes up with the best way to activate it “holistically” will win the business. No telling so far what that super-awesome and totally compelling insight is but, considering that Dr Pepper is a mere soda brand, this blog’s bet is that the insight is not quite as powerful as the Brand Manager bucking for promotion might think that it is.

Not that it matters – the Brand Manager will be moved to a new brand in two months anyway, so what do they care? They have made their short-term mark and notched a reason for promotion into their belt. Woohoo!

Damn it feels good to work at an agency.

cliff freeman is sniffing around some new business

It’s been a busy day filled with the not very fun parts of advertising…apologies for the lack of posts.

The good news is that, while running out for a quick lunch today, I overheard some of the good people at Cliff Freeman discussing a hot new business lead that they were in the process of trying to track down. It was hard to tell what it was, but it sounded like they had been asked by a client they currently have to do put some thinking against briefs for other brands.

Knowing the completely dishonest and disgraceful way that most clients act towards their agencies, I fully expect that those other brands currently have an agency/agencies of record and that agency/agencies has no idea that another shop is pitching against them.

If you are a roster shop with Cliff Freeman, I would watch out for your cheese. It may be about to be eaten by somebody else.

Anyone have an idea who the shop(s) in danger might be?