Friday October 07, 2005

I Know They Got the Job, But Can They Do The Job?

Let the ghoul pools begin. Coke just awarded its $150 million creative account to Wieden + Kennedy in a major move. Coca-Cola will now account for almost 25 percent of Wieden’s U.S. billings—at least until the agency loses the account.

As great as Wieden has been for the brands it’s been great for—namely, Nike and ESPN—the agency has never cracked a major non-sports brand wide open. Remember Subaru? Randall Rothenberg got a whole book out of that miscue. More recently, there have been unsuccessful swings at Pizza Hut and AOL. (Miller High Life, you say? Great campaign, but for a marginalized product. Not quite the same as Brand Coke.)

Combine that with the fact that Coke has a rep for being the stiffest client ever—and one that is committed to a mass market world that is evaporating daily—and things look even bleaker. Things might work out, sure, but if they do, that will be the surprise.

My guess? Wieden and Coke will split by 8/1/06. For posterity, and future bragging rights, record your guesses in comments.

Posted by jim at 12:14 AM ||