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Yesterday it was announced that Wal-Mart choose Select Resources International, the consultancy that handled its recent ill-fated $580 million creative and media review, to manage its upcoming mulligan.

Today, GSD&M says “Thanks but no thanks,” leaving only Ogilvy & Mather and the Martin Agency contending for the business (plus Carat for the media business). BTW–Bravo to GSD&M for saying NO to that craziness again.

Why hire a search consultant…again… especially with only two contenders (that have already pitched before) and one media agency?

Makes no sense whatsoever. Just pick one…for God’s sake. Don’t put them through the hoops of a pitch yet again. It’s bad enough to have to pitch once, but twice…that’s pure torture. It’s a ridiculous waste of time and money — for all parties.

Given the debacle this has become, I wouldn’t’ t be the least bit surprised to find out that with GSD&M opting out, that Select Resources opens the door wide open to a whole new review.

What a fiasco! The entire review process our industry lives by is so massively flawed, it should be thrown out.

UK spot for seatbelt safety.

I just read a great story in the Pitch about the history of the Wal-mart account and the relationship with long-term agency Bernstein Rein.

I admit, I’m totally engrossed in the Wal-mart agency review saga and am reading everything published on the subject. But apparently I’m not alone. Wal-Mart and its travails have reverberated throughout the ad world.
AdAge has 5 stories related to recent events:

In Bentonville, Buyers Abide by Stringent Code

Wal-Mart Ethics Code

1. Follow the law at all times.
2. Be honest and fair.
3. Never manipulate, misrepresent, abuse or conceal information.
4. Avoid conflicts of interest between work and personal life.
5. Never discriminate.
6. Never act unethically — even if someone else tells you to.
7. Never ask someone to act unethically.
8. Seek assistance if you have questions about ethics.
9. Cooperate with any investigation of a possible ethics violation.
10. Report ethics violators.

Draft Dealt Staggering Blow After Strutting Like A Champ

DraftFCB CEO Howard Draft went from triumphant hero to disaster management overnight.

Advertising Age had decided that DraftFCB, thanks to the boldness of its model and the Wal-Mart new-business coup, was going to be this publication’s Agency of the Year, a decision that would have been officially announced in our Jan. 8 issue.

Now, all that has changed.

Sam’s Successors Share Blame For Wal-Mart Shame

Sam Walton must be rolling in his grave.

Almost nothing could be more contrary to Wal-Mart’s culture and heritage than a high-profile marketing executive seen taking rides in high-priced cars with current and potential vendors or accused in the press of accepting expensive entertainment and gratuities from them.

As Wal-Mart Reopens Review, Windy City Ad Community Lets Out A Groan

In the wake of Roehm-gate, Wal-Mart has gone from being the Chicago ad community’s redemption to being a low point in an already-grim 24 months.

Pushing Envelope Julie’s MO–Not Wal-Mart’s

Pushing the envelope of propriety

If there is any practical lesson from this affair, it’s that the client is the company — not the senior VP-marketing — and the client’s values system is not to be taken lightly. DraftFCB evidently bought into Roehm’s self-image as a “change agent.”

Yeah, well, congratulations. Wal-Mart is now changing agencies.

Even the Chicago Tribune is running stories filled with advice for DraftFCB:

DraftFCB needs to act quickly to restore its reputation.

If Draft and his team determine the agency did nothing wrong, they should write a strongly worded letter to Wal-Mart and make it public, sending copies to their clients, prospective clients and employees, advised Robert Dilenschneider, head of the Dilenschneider Group in New York.

“They’ve been fired. They have nothing to lose,” he said in an interview Friday.

If Draft concludes the agency did cross a line somewhere, he should express outrage and remove the people involved, Dilenschneider said. Draft also should ask Wal-Mart to reconsider its stand that DraftFCB won’t be allowed to bid in the new competition for the giant discount chain’s account.

“They shouldn’t wait until Monday. They should do it today,” Dilenschneider said.

I wonder what will happen next.

For the latest promo for Bloom Supermarket from BooneOakley, agency staff transformed an old junk shop overnight into a gingerbread house.

Besides being very creative, the house is to be used as a collection point this month for the Community Food Bank of the Piedmont.

Located on Highway 81 between Anderson and Greenville, S.C., the creation will stay up through the new year.

Very cool idea!

Hat tip, AdFreak>

Don’t do it!

This “one bank” should be compelling evidence as to why you should avoid having a live act involving employees at a corporate meeting or rally. Especially one that is supposed to be serious in nature yet enacted by two very corporate looking types.

Or at least frisk people at the door for cell phones with video cameras…

and whatever you do, don’t post the video on the corporate intranet unless you are OK with it getting out.

Sadly these guys probably spent hours in rehearsal and they don’t totally suck (I’ve heard much worse out there), yet they are out there for people to judge (harshly) and parody wildly like this one.

Announced today, after Roehm’s ouster, the $580 million account in back in review and DraftFCB can’t play.

You gotta wonder what level of denial the folks at Hallmark are living in, as it seems the saccharine sweetness of their rose-colored world has completely overcome any form of marketing reality. Their latest holiday commercial foists “The Very Merry Trio” upon the American public in a laughably bad way.

The Very Merry Trio is Hallmark’s newest addition to the overflowing archives of ungodly annoying and useless singing and dancing character products, spawned by the success of crap like Billy Bass and the Caddyshack dancing gopher. It’s the sort of product only small children and the very elderly/deaf can appreciate.

Hallmark’s 30-second ode to bad taste opens with an airline employee announcing a two-hour flight delay to a room full of people who, thankfully, have already been through security and relieved of potential weapons. Or have they?

What happens next is unthinkable. A woman pulls one of these demonic musical monsters out of her bag and turns it on to “spread holiday cheer”. There is absolutely no regard for the people sleeping, working, or those who are slowly stewing, their potentially murderous rage at being stuck in an airport simmering just beneath the surface. Even her children are sitting quietly, which anyone who has ever been in an airport gate lounge can tell you Just. Does. Not. Happen.

The Hallmark people would have us believe that everyone gathers around to bask in the warm glow of this monstrosity, which features two penguins, a snowman and a flashing Christmas tree. Everyone has a wonderful time watching the penguins jauntily shake their jinglebell-festooned butts as the snowman sings, and the tree lights flash. In fact, we’re supposed to believe that it’s such a grand time, the pesky two-hour delay just flies by. The Very Merry Trio is so mesmerizing, that when the airline employee calls out for boarding, no one can tear away from watching this modern masterpiece. Riiiight.

Hallmark, I ask you this: what planet do you believe we live on? Because I can tell you one thing, in the everyday world, this woman would be in severe danger of being strangled on the spot. And I’d be first in line.

Way cool! From Ads of the World:

Playing with the smooth aspect of eggshells, eggboxes in Brussels were taken in hand by the Wilkinson Quattro Titanium. The masculine faces on the eggs were printed on transparent stickers and then stuck to the eggs. An advertising flyer with a promotion on the back was put in every box.

Agency: JWT, Brussels

People are a buzz. After all it was one of the biggest account reviews in recent history. So the smiley gets ditched for upscale chic (sort of)…and then…poof…the instigator of the review is gone. And now speculation is leaking out about possible reasons for Julie Roehm’s quick departure from Wal-Mart. This from today’s MediaPost today:

One source says that during the pitch process for the Wal-Mart account, a lot of “gratuitous gifts” changed hands, raising eyebrows inside the company. Wal-Mart has a very strict policy about gratuities. While many executives in the ad industry wouldn’t flinch at the worth of the things Roehm may have pocketed during the pitch process, Wal-Mart management felt otherwise.

In addition, almost immediately following the awarding of the account to DraftFCB, the agency took out a full-page advertisement in Creativity magazine touting the Cannes Lions Awards that depicted two lions mating, with the smug caption: “It’s good to be on top.”

This did not create a roar of approval at corporate headquarters. The copulating couple caused quite a buzz inside the company as executives questioned Roehm’s judgment, says a source.

I’m sure there’s more to come.

P.S.  I think the way she told the losers of the review they were out should have spoke volumes about questionable judgement.  A terse phone call, a “you lose” email or one-sentence letter would have been a significant step up from this stunt.

I clicked on a link a friend sent me this afternoon and whoa! Check out this site….

NOT at all what I would have expected from Microsoft, this promo site for Vista (at least that’s what I assume it is) is completely out of the ordinary.

The animated character goes from deep-think philosophical musing to near nonsensical rambling — from talking about having one hard nipple to tattooing fish to admitting that he just unleashed “a tiny one, but you can’t smell the screen.”

I spent over an hour on this site just listening to it and playing around, viewing the episodes. My first thought was… there was no way some creative team scripted this thing… it is so random that it is completely compelling, but utterly confusing. I couldn’t fathom the creative brief that would have lead to this.

Yet I was fascinated and just kept getting more and more drawn in. I didn’t see or hear the same thing twice even if I took the same action. I was so intrigued by the site that I started researching to see if I could find anything that helped explain what it was, its objective or who did it.

It turns out the “character” is comedian Demetri Martin, and the ramblings is his shtick. I also discovered an AdFreak post which explained a bit about the piece (apparently they were drawn in too). And that post provided me a link to The Institute for Advanced Personhood, which sucked me in for another 30 minutes.

I would suspect that, for most people, the site is, at best, an iffy-dotted-line-mental connect to Vista –kind of taking the “Your Potential. Our Passion.™” to an entirely different level. There is certainly nothing straightforward about it. The whole thing seems so “un-Microsoft” like …but perhaps that’s good if they are trying to position Vista as something unique and different.

Regardless of the intended business strategy, I enjoyed my visit to the site (and I can’t say that about many). Kudos to McCann and Microsoft for doing something really different.