• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, April 10, 2009

The "agency of the future," apparently, is one from Madison Avenue's past: Y&R. That's according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which, citing unnamed sources, says WPP's and Dell's bold Enfatico experiment to build a new kind of advertising agency, has officially failed and is being folded into WPP's Y&R unit. If confirmed, the restructuring would mark a sour final chapter for Enfatico, which was conceived 16-months ago when Dell consolidated its massive advertising account at WPP on the premise that they would jointly develop a fresh approach to the classic Madison Avenue agency structure.

But it also seemed as though the industry has done nothing but root against Enfatico from the start, and whether it was because it was ill conceived, or because it took a brash approach toward breaking the industry's status quo, or just because its plan coincided with the worst economic downturn for the advertising industry since the Great Depression, Enfatico seemed predestined to fail. At least that was the corridor talk, the conventional wisdom, and what the headlines in leading trade publications such as Advertising Age have told us for nearly a year-and-a-half.

Much of that criticism was lavished on Enfatico's high-profile, and outspoken CEO, Torrence Boone, who unabashedly challenged the industry's thinking, and no doubt made enemies on and off the avenue, as he raced to build an organization that would prove his theories for innovating a marketplace, and a business model - the traditional full-serve advertising agency - that many agree may itself be at risk of extinction.

During a series of interviews with MediaPost's OMMA magazine, Boone, and top executives of Enfatico, made the case that they were building traction despite the heaps of criticism, and a fair amount of infighting with in WPP's organization, and that all they needed was a little more time to prove their mettle.

"Our business is changing, but the agency model hasn't," Boone declares in an article published in the current edition of OMMA, is now seemingly prophetically.

According to the report in today's Journal, Enfatico will continue to exist as an entity, but it will be folded into the organizational structure of Y&R, and Y&R's team will also work on the account. Sources also told the paper that Boone will report to Y&R Brands Chief Executive Peter Stringham. Boone had previously reported to WPP Chief Martin Sorrell, who originally conceived of Enfatico.

It's not clear why the restructuring is occurring now, but Enfatico reportedly has been leaning on Y&R recently for creative ideas to help boost Dell's business, and it also recently lost a pitch for broadband telephone service Vonage's account, which would have been Enfatico's second, and would have helped prove it as a sustainable model beyond Dell.

OMMA Awards ceremony