Putting aside the sonic boom resulting from Wal-Mart’s abrupt decision to end its business with DraftFCB before it began, broadcast production chief Michael Davis is very upbeat about how the new broadcast production department is shaping up and the agency’s future.
“Nothing has changed in our outlook towards present and future clients,” he said, with nary a glance back at what might have been.
Yes, there are new clients in the offing, but none he could talk about, of course. And neither prospective clients nor present ones seem deterred by the recent rocking headlines, he said.
DraftFCB’s combined pre-Wal-Mart billings were estimated at $1.1 billion from the likes of Taco Bell, KFC, Kraft Foods, Boeing, S.C. Johnson, Coca-Cola, Fisher Price, GlaxoSmithKline, Levi Strauss, Saab, U.S. Postal Service and Verizon, among others.
Next year, the agency’s Broadcast and Emerging Media Department, an amalgam of the two agencies’ production departments, will produce 400 commercials, including versions, and an estimated 100 pieces for emerging content.
And as business increases, Davis anticipates new hires?”hybrid producers who can produce across the web, mobile and in the studio.”
“We are not making a ?new department’ based on an organization chart,” he noted. The object is to create “a brand voice” that’s not just a TV spot. We put our clients’ story in the middle of all the integrated media channels, marketing services,” so the message is maximized.
