• Ad Age, Monday, May 14, 2007 10:30 AM

It has become increasingly common for marketers to include a stipulation that agencies surrender rights to anything pitched in a review, but Kraft foods is going a step further. In its review for the Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles, Ritz, Triscuit and Grey Poupon brands, it is insisting that participating agencies accept legal liability should the marketer end up using those ideas at some later date.

Tom Finneran, executive vice president-management services for the American Association of Advertising Agencies, describes the idea of agencies retaining legal liability for the work they pitched as "totally outrageous." A Kraft spokeswoman says that the company is considering refining the requirement.

Kraft is paying contenders "about 25 grand" to sign over rights to ideas pitched, according to one agency executive. Agencies say work developed for a competitive review is intended as speculative, not finished product, making it even more important that they're not held liable for it if they're not executing it.

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