So now we know. After months of waiting and wondering where Mark Modesto would turn up, it turns out he has landed just a short distance from DraftFCB, the shop from which he was unceremoniously ousted in the summer of 2010 after a 30-year tenure.
Modesto and John Immesoete, another ad man familiar to many in the local ad biz, are taking on new roles at Marc USA/Chicago, which has offices in River North at 325 N. LaSalle. Modesto is the new president of the shop, while Immesoete joins as executive creative director, a new position.
Marc is a Pittsburgh-based shop that has had a footprint in Chicago for approximately a dozen years, but hasn’t really managed in that time to establish much of an identity in the city.
That is because of several factors, among them management that didn’t push to give the shop a distinctive presence, and perhaps most importantly, an inability to establish a client roster that would help the shop develop a sharp creative profile.
The current list of clients is short, but includes department store giant Macy’s (for which Marc does college-related marketing), True Value and a couple of others the shop declined to name.
Apparent change is about to take place
If we are to believe Marc USA corporate president and CEO Michele Fabrizi and Jean McLaren, former Marc USA/Chicago prez and now corporate chief marketing officer, Modesto and Immesoete are at Marc to make right what was wrong with the Chicago outpost.
“We are ready to rock and roll now,” promised Fabrizi in an interview Monday. Which is all fine and well. But if we had a nickel for every time we’ve heard something along those lines from a Chicago agency, we would be a rich man indeed.
The problem, as we’ve often observed in such situations, is that the promise that seemed apparent at the start of such processes often doesn’t pan out. But clearly, Fabrizi believes Modesto and Immesoete can deliver for Marc USA. Why? Because they know the Chicago market well and can make things happen for Marc.
Modesto has reason to like Marc’s entrepreneurial spirit
For his part, Modesto was pretty quiet in an interview on Monday when we tried to sound him out. Asked why he wanted to go with the Marc opportunity, Modesto talked a bit about liking the shop’s entrepreneurial spirit.
We can understand why that intrigues him. That’s something Modesto hasn’t really tasted of before — having spent the entirety of his ad career in the far different, more bureaucratic (read constipated) culture at DraftFCB.
And, of course, Modesto danced delicately around the issue of his abrupt departure from DraftFCB, refusing to provide any more specifics about the reasons for it. Whether he wishes it to or not, that mysteriously unexplained exit from DraftFCB will remain a dark cloud over his head for as long as he refuses to address the matter.
But curiously, Modesto seemed to want to make clear in announcing his move to Marc that he remains buddies with some of the people that used to run S.C. Johnson, the account he oversaw for much of this tenure at DraftFCB.
Marc USA even went so far as to include a quote from former S.C. Johnson CEO Bill Perez in the official announcement. Perez said Modesto “understands the importance of building a true partnership with his clients.” Something we suppose one does learn after 30 years in the agency biz.
Immesoete a big fan of local talent
Still, Immesoete, more than Modesto, may be key in determining Marc USA’s future in Chicago. Though he has been off directing commercials all over the globe for the past eight years, Immesoete previously spent nine formative years at DDB/Chicago, rising to the role of group creative director.
For much of that time, DDB was still a creative hot shop, and the Anheuser-Busch business on which Immesoete worked was a significant part of the reason why DDB had that reputation. Of course, A-B is about to pull up most, if not all, of its stakes at DDB — a point of interest, you can be sure, to Immesoete as he begins the search for new business at Marc.
We have no doubt Immesoete has the creative chops for the Marc job. But he has never been the top man in a creative department, so it’s impossible to know if he has the managerial and new business skills that will be essential to the role as well.
Immesoete said he is a big fan of local talent, and he hopes to use it more effectively than it has been employed at other local agencies in recent years.
Opportunity to restore the luster of a local agency
On Monday, both Immesoete and Modesto also were talking — in very broad strokes — about creating a Chicago agency that truly exemplifies all that is best about Chicago’s rich advertising legacy — a legacy that, most unfortunately, has lost a lot of its luster as local agencies big and small have struggled over the past decade.
So the opportunity is there for the taking for Modesto and Immesoete — if they can deliver.
“Mark (Modesto) and I are both Chicago born and bred,” said Immesoete. “And we have a deep respect for the local creative tradition in all its aspects,” added the new Marc USA/Chicago creative honcho.
That’s a lovely sentiment to mark the beginning of this challenging journey for Modesto and Immesoete. We can only hope it proves a most successful one.
Contact Lewis Lazare at LewisL3@aol.com
