Mar 21
I’m sure that the folks at Crispin Porter + Bogusky would happily tell you that there’s no such thing as bad press, but by most accounts, it’s shaping up to be a rough couple of weeks for the ad agency. Last week, Burger King dumped the company after a seven year partnership, opting to manage its own advertising “until we have a new agency in place.”
Groupon is calling out CP+B as well, after the dust has cleared on those controversial ads, which led to accusations that the deal site was making light of the situation in Tibet. In a recent interview, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason berated himself for investing too much in the agency’s mission “to be edgy, informative and entertaining, and we turned off the part of our brain where we should have made our own decisions. We learned that you can’t rely on anyone else to control and maintain your own brand.”
As Ad Age points out, Mason was quick to defend the agency after the Superbowl. Mason again, “The firm that conceived the ad, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, strives to draw attention to the cultural tensions created by brands. When they created this Hulu ad, they highlighted the idea that TV rots your brain, making fun of Hulu. Our ads highlight the often trivial nature of stuff on Groupon when juxtaposed against bigger world issues, making fun of Groupon.”
Groupon pulled the ads from YouTube after the protests, but here’s a story from February on the subject, for those who need a crash course.
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