
The massive U.S. Army marketing contract
review—valued at an estimated $4 billion over 10 years-- has taken a bizarre turn as a purported government source informed U.S. Army marketing authorities and holding companies competing in the
process that it has been compromised by an inappropriate relationship between a U.S. Army director of marketing and incumbent McCann’s former U.S. Army group account director.
Emails
describing the inappropriate activity were sent to both WPP and Omnicom, which have teams competing for the contract. The companies didn’t respond to requests for comment at deadline. McCann
declined to comment on the review process but confirmed that the former McCann group account director referenced in the anonymous tip resigned in October. The agency declined further comment. Sources
indicated that the agency was unaware of any improper relationship at the time she resigned and only became aware of the alleged improprieties this week.
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Alison Bettencourt, Director of Public
Affairs, Army Marketing and Research Group, responding to a query replied that, “Recently, Army Marketing and Research Group leadership was made aware of allegations of possible inappropriate
conduct between a member of the AMRG staff and a defense contractor. Upon learning of these allegations, the employee was removed from all duties associated with the contract and temporarily
reassigned within the organization. Appropriate authorities are aware of the allegations and an investigation into the matter is ongoing.”
The anonymous email contained a link to two
YouTube videos showing the former McCann staffer and the reassigned Army marketing director dancing intimately and kissing at a venue the informant described as being in Alexandria, VA. The tipster
said the video was taken October 4 and that the pair had attended a meeting earlier that day at Army Marketing headquarters in Arlington, VA.
“As a bidder, your company should be
granted the same access to information that all the other bidders are granted,” the anonymous tipster wrote to the holding companies. ‘Unfortunately, this is not the case when it comes to
the incumbent Agency McCann Wordgroup (MWG). An inappropriate relationship was discovered occurring between the US Army's Director of Marketing… and the MWG US Army Group Account
Director.”
The informant added the YouTube videos were taken on October 4, 2017. “Less than 3 weeks later, MWG removed the Account Director -- citing that she had made a
decision to ‘step down’ with no other information provided. To date, nothing has been done to the US Army Director of Marketing -- he still directs projects, allocates funds for various
projects and still has a great influence over the bid selection committee even though he is not technically on it.” The email was reportedly sent last week.
“It is clear that the
process is corrupted and stacked against competing bidders—it’s your right to correct it,” the anonymous source added.
The latest Army review has been a long and winding road
with a few bumps along the way. The military branch had initially intended to launch a review in 2015 but then delayed, giving McCann, the incumbent since 2005, an
extension. The formal review kicked off in January of this year. This summer McCann
was cut from the process but successfully protested and reinstated in
September.