• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, October 1, 2014

While it's awesome that legal marketing agency PMP Marketing Group was just named one of the top 100 privately held companies in South Florida…Wait, maybe that's not so awesome. 100 companies? Just in South Florida? Not even all of Florida? Anyway, that's not where I'm going with this. I'd like to question the wisdom of anyone naming their agency PMP Marketing Group. Or PMP anything. Because just how would you pronounce PMP? Go on. Sound it out right now. Now do you see why it might not have been such a great idea to name an ad agency PMP Marketing Group? But good on the agency for being named ONE OF the best 100 agencies in SOUTH Florida by the South Florida Business Journal.

Acknowledging the fact that the days of the agency-of-record relationship are numbered, 25-year ad veteran Drew McLellan has some advice for CMOs who are facing this new model brought about by the hyper-specialization that is now required to navigate the complexity of the advertising landscape. He advocates a model that puts into place a lead agency that subcontracts specialty work to specialists. Countering those who argue a lead agency that is just hired to think is a waste of money, McLellan writes: "Insight and knowledge from an outside expert is well worth the investment. It’s impossible to see the label on a beer bottle when you’re inside the bottle, and you can’t see your brand the way the marketplace does. A good agency will be able to see your blind spots and help you develop strategies to overcome them."

Congratulations to DigitasLBi. At Tuesday night's IAB MIXX Awards held during Advertising Week, the agency was named the "Most Awarded Agency" of the decade. DigitasLBi has been honored with 38 IAB MIXX Awards over the course of a decade. In 2011 it received "Best in Show" -- the most prestigious IAB MIXX recognition -- for the American Express Open "Small Business Saturday" campaign. In addition to American Express, the agency's work for eBay, Miller Lite, P&G, and Taco Bell has received accolades across categories such as Augmented Reality, Clicks-to-Bricks, Brand Awareness and Positioning, Branded Mobile Application, Mobile Brand Destination, and Interactive Video. Of the win, DigitasLBi North America CEO Tony Weisman said: "We are thrilled to be named Most Awarded Agency of the decade by the IAB MIXX. It's a tribute to the talent and dedication of our people, as well as to the clients that have entrusted us with their brands, year after year."

It's rather refreshing to see a CMO stick around a brand for longer than a few years. But when someone stays for 26 years, it's worth celebrating. While he wasn't CMO for all of the 26 years he worked at General Mills, Mark Addicks, is, after ten years as CMO, retiring from the company. Ten years as CMO. Twenty-six years at the same company. Think about that for a minute. How many people do you know stick with the same company for 26 years? Especially in advertising. Clearly, Addicks enjoyed his time at General Mills. And clearly the brand enjoyed having him. Of his departure, General Mills CEO Ken Powell said: "Mark has been a remarkable visionary who has helped shape the purpose of our brands to best serve our consumers. We thank Mark for his incredible contributions to General Mills over 26 terrific years. We know he will continue to be a marketing thought leader and brand-building visionary even in his retirement."

Apparently the somewhat new position of CMO of an ad agency isn't all that important to Saatchi & Saatchi, although the agency was also somewhat of a trailblazer when it installed one way back in 2009. Ben Bittman joined the agency as chief marketing officer but exited just shy of a year later. The position has been vacant since then. But this week, the agency announced the hire of Christine Prins as CMO. Previously, Prins was with KBS+ since 2008 in a new business role as well as recently being named chief growth officer, yet another pseudo CxO position invented by ad agencies.

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