All of which makes the recent talk of Campaign Palace’s global designs a little curious. Apart from a brief, and ultimately unsuccessful, attempt by Mojo to take its offering to the US — Australian agencies have been slow to tap markets beyond their borders.
Y&R global CEO Hamish McLennan, however, remains unconcerned. He sees Campaign Palace as exactly the kind of agency which can add a new dimension to Y&R’s flagging global offering. “We’re just quietly exploring whether there is a real need and appetite for an expansion,” says McLennan. “Our feeling is there is demand out there for strong, creative-led agencies.”
McLennan is coy about concrete details, but sources within Y&R point to London, New York, Singapore and Auckland as possible target markets for the Palace. Perhaps, say some observers, McLennan is attempting to emulate the success enjoyed by the likes of Crispin Porter & Bogusky and Wieden & Kennedy, which have prospered at the expense of bigger networks.
“He must be looking to find an upmarket creative brand,” says Aprais regional CEO Reg Moses, who previously headed the Palace. “The Palace brand still has cachet around the world, certainly if you consider their other brands.”
This is not be the first time that WPP has attempted to add a more creative string to its bow. After the high-profile failure of Red Cell and United — two ‘manufactured’ networks — perhaps the odds will be better for an agency that could represent more than an agglomeration of separate shops. “If WPP doesn’t have a creative agency, it is going to lose more and more business,” says a source from within the holding company. “It’s becoming increasingly obvious that clients are starting to question the lack of creativity.”
But can Campaign Palace rectify this? As one source in Australia notes, “the agency has had such a great creative heritage, but now it is very middle-of-the-pack”.
Key clients include Westpac, National Foods and Target. “You could say it has bounced back to be a viable agency proposition,” adds the source. “But you would have to say there are around 15 agencies better than them in Australia.”
If anyone understands Campaign Palace, though, it may be McLennan, who worked closely with the agency while heading George Patterson Y&R in his native Australia. And he is adamant that the agency will not merely function as a conflict shop for Y&R. Adds the WPP source: “For it to shine, it has to be a Campaign Palace-led entity, not a Y&R one.”
If the rollout does take real shape, it will face two immediate challenges. On one hand, it does not have a global anchor client, generally considered a prerequisite for agency expansion. On the other, McLennan will need to find the right people to lead the brand, after already stating that it would be led by “good local people”.
It is worth noting that these remain difficult times for Y&R globally. The prospect of a new agency may offer McLennan some respite, particularly given the paucity of breakthrough work that Y&R can currently lay claim to.
“You are labelled by the company you keep and, if you are not very careful, that will be banks, toothpaste and tourism,”says the WPP source.
