• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, October 11, 2013

Doh! Ocean City staff members are in hot water for allowing the notice period in the contract with the town’s ad agency MGH to lapse, resulting in the automatic renewal of the agreement. Back in September 2012, the town's Tourism Advisory Board Chair Greg Shockley requested the town council reconsider its relationship with the agency, which has been working for the town for ten years, so that it could open up an RFP process. In fact, in August 2012, the town council had voted 4-3 not to renew the MGH contract. Councilman Brent Ashley lambasted City Manager David Recor saying “This is what I was talking about at the last meeting and everyone seemed confused. Is everyone clear now? My question is, at what point was it decided not to do the RFP and who decided it?” No one seems to have a good answer. The contract pays the agency a monthly retainer of $23,000. We imagine MGH isn't complaining about this snafu too much.

And finally some good news for Arnold Worldwide where it’s beenrough going since losing the McDonald's New England, Lee Jeans and Aetna accounts along with its chief creative officer. But the tide seems to have turned. The agency was just selected by ADT to be one of three agencies to handle the security brand's advertising business. Arnold will handle brand strategy, positioning and advertising. Mediacom will handle media planning and buying. And SapientNitro will handle the brand's digital strategy as well as unifying customer experience across platforms. Of the win, Arnold Worldwide CEO Robert LePlae said, "ADT is a category leader with distinguishing assets to further position themselves ahead of a competitive category. This is a tremendous opportunity to partner with Tony (Wells, ADT CMO) and his team to grow the customer base and fuel Brand Velocity for ADT with a dynamic strategy and a strong creative platform." Congratulations, Arnold. It wasn't looking good there for a bit.

In his quest to rule the world, WPP CEO Martin Sorrell had considered buying talent agency IMG but has decided the $2.5 billion asking price is too high. At the Leaders in Football sports conference, Sorrell said, "We would love to own IMG. No, we can't afford it. People are talking about $2 to $2.5 billion. They are talking about 20 bidders, 10 bidders going into the second round. That's nose-bleed territory for us." In 2004, Teddy Foreman, who died in 2011, paid $750 million for the agency. While Sorrell would love to have IMG in its stable, he thinks private equity company Silver Lake and partner William Morris Endeavor Entertainment are better suited to acquire.

So if there's anything that's a given in the advertising business, it's that agencies love to toot their own horn. Sometimes it's warranted, sometimes it's not. In this case, we think it is because it's about actual results. Madwire Media reported it has created and marketed 6,336 client websites worldwide since the agency's founding in 2009, and reported a 5,254% growth in revenue among clients over a three-year period. In 2013, Madwire Media ranked #51 on the Inc. 500 list. The agency also ranked #10 among top advertising and marketing companies, and #2 in Colorado.

Over in Australia, insurance brand AAMI has selected  content marketing agency Edge. The agency will join the brand's roster of agencies which currently includes Razorfish Australia and DTDigital. The agency will be charged with creating content in the form of video, imagery, editorial, infographics and audio designed to retain and engage AAMI customers.