BBDO Resigns Ad Account for Coldwell Banker Unit

Over the past year, Coldwell Banker real estate has undergone a lot of changes--including the sale of its commercial real estate group and international expansion of its residential real estate division. Now, that division will have to change one more thing: its ad agency.

On Wednesday, BBDO Los Angeles resigned the estimated $10-million account.

“Coldwell Banker is a great company and it saddens us to end this relationship,” said Gene Cameron, BBDO’s president. “But despite our best efforts, we were unable to achieve the kind of partnership we need to do our best work.”

Executives from Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate on Wednesday were reluctant to comment on their plans. “The relationship is over,” said Lane Barnett, first vice president and director of marketing at the Newport Beach-based real estate giant, which is owned by Sears. “We’ve already met with a number of the larger agencies in the area, and we’ll take it from there.”

Does Coldwell Banker--which last year sold 11% of the residential real estate in the United States--want to become a household name like Century 21? “Most consumers don’t see the difference in real estate companies other than the color of the coats they wear--or the balloons they fly,” said Barnett. “The real key in this business is to deliver a uniformly superior level of service.”

Neither the agency nor Coldwell Banker would give a reason for the change, but it is not unusual for a firm to switch ad agencies after it has had a management change, as Coldwell Banker recently has.

BBDO has been the agency for Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate for four years. Its TV and print ads refer to Coldwell Banker as “the home sellers.”

Despite the loss, Cameron said his agency--which employs 170 people--did not expect any layoffs. After all, earlier this month the firm picked up the estimated $10-million ad business for Long Beach-based Pioneer Electronics USA.