• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, November 4, 2013

What happens when an agency keeps a million dollars of rebates and discounts to itself? It gets into a whole lot of hot water which is exactly what's happening right now to media buying agency Mediaplus. A German court has ordered the agency to open its books and reveal all the discounts it received while working on the $47 million Haribo account, maker of Gummi Bears. Haribo filed a law suit claiming Mediaplus kept rebates and discounts it received while placing Haribo's media. Again, everyone wants to make money but screw-ups like this are just destined to land an agency in court.

Is being the 7th largest advertising agency in North Texas a big deal? It is when you're a North Texas advertising agency and considering that Texas is like half the size of the U.S., it's nothing to sneeze at. Well, that is if you're an advertising agency in North Texas that likes to toot its own horn. Then again, what agency have you heard of that doesn't like to toot its own horn? Right. So it's a very big deal that Plano, TX-based VLG (which has the coolest URL, www.wefightboredom.com) would like us to know it's now the 7th largest North Texas agency according to the Dallas Business Journal. Humbly responding to the finding, VLG President Pete Manias said, “We were somewhat surprised by the news. We didn’t realize we’d grown into one of the largest ad agencies in DFW.” The B2B agency attributes it success to expanded services, proprietary marketing software and bolstered creative.

OK, yeah, Halloween was last week but that shouldn't stop us from noting the extreme lameness of a collection of Halloween-themed Vines RPA created for the holiday. Vines of a bunch of agency types with freakish makeup wandering around the office moaning like zombies? Really? Come on, RPA. Admit you did this because you think Vine is cool and thought it would make you look cool not because you actually thought any of this would be funny, right?

Oh this is no good. We love Scott Goodson's Strawberry Frog. Sadly, the agency's new owners, APCO, will close the agency's Amsterdam office. Apparently there isn't enough business to keep the agency's doors open. Bummer.

WPP's Martin Sorrell is sad this week. Very, very sad. None of his chest beating, fist pounding or stream of rhetoric could prevent Maurice Levy and John Wren from having their way in the U.S. as the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act-mandated waiting period has ended without opposition allowing Levy and Wren to get busy with one another forming the largest ad agency holding company in the world. Of course the merger has to meet approval in other countries but it’s unlikely there will be difficulties at this stage of the game. It won't be long before Sorrell ups the ante hooking up with Havas' David Jones and Dentsu's Tadashi Ishii for a little merger party of his own.

JWT New York Co-Chief Creative Officer Matt MacDonald has left the agency -- after 18 months -- to become Executive Creative Director at BBDO, reportedly a newly created position at the agency. At BBDO, MacDonald will oversee the AT&T account.