It’s Miller’s Time to Follow Trend of Changing Agencies
The fall of 1996 could go down in the advertising business as the season of the Big Breakup.
An expanding roster of companies commanding more than $400 million in advertising spending have dumped their longtime agencies in response to competitive pressures. The latest to do so is Miller Brewing Co., which on Thursday fired Bates USA, its agency of 16 years, amid slumping sales and the perception that its ads were no match for the Budweiser frogs.
More changes could be on the way. Delta Air Lines is looking for a new agency to handle its $100-million account--a threat to BBDO, a New York agency that has handled the business for 51 years.
Advertising agency executives said the changes show how a new breed of corporate manager increasingly values results over relationships. They say that clients under pressure to boost sales have less patience with ads that don’t work.
“In long-term relationships there are lots of times when clients and agencies work through problems and tough times. It would appear there is a lot less tolerance for those times,” said Bill Whitehead, chief executive of the Bates North America unit of Bates Worldwide in New York, owned by Cordiant.
Bates lost the Miller Genuine Draft business to Wieden & Kennedy, the Portland agency known for its trendy Nike ads. Billings for the beer account are about $80 million. Miller also reassigned its Miller Lite business to Fallon-McElligott in Minneapolis from Chicago-based Leo Burnett.
“Obviously, this relationship extended for a very long time,” Miller spokeswoman Susan Henderson said of the company’s parting with Bates. “It was not an easy decision. But we felt it in our best interest to do this.”
Advertising industry executives said the changes may signal disillusionment among clients with the advertising behemoths, such as Cordiant, created through mergers in the 1980s. Fallon-McElligott and Wieden are independent shops known for original, creative work.
“It is not like the old days, when you keep a client by hanging out on the golf course,” said David Suissa, chairman of Suissa Miller Advertising of Santa Monica, a small shop that shocked the advertising world when it won the Acura account in October. “Big multinational companies don’t care how big your agency is. What matters now is the work.”
Suissa Miller’s victory brought about the first in a string of advertising breakups. Fathom Advertising, a Los Angeles-based unit of Omnicom in New York, had handled Acura for 12 years. Its advertising brought grumbles from dealers during a sales slump last year. Sales have rebounded.
Next, United Airlines, faced with intense competition, stunned the advertising industry by ending its 30-year relationship with Leo Burnett--the agency responsible for the “Friendly Skies” slogan. In naming two agencies to replace Burnett, Fallon-McElligott and Young & Rubicam, United cited a change in emphasis toward customer service.
