My father was a copy editor for a major newspaper. Facts counted back then- apparently, that skill has been lost- when Ad Age continues to ad to the legend of Crispin Porter + Bogusky by saying an office that opened on Sept. 10, 2001, was “shuttered in the 1990’s.
Advertising Age - Five Crispin Refugees Set Up Shop in L.A.
There’s a new creative boutique gunning for Crispin Porter & Bogusky’s hotshop crown — and it’s staffed with five of the agency’s own.
Setting up shop in Venice, Calif., just blocks from an office Crispin opened (and later shuttered) in the 1990s, are a cadre of the agency’s former staffers — some of the minds behind a handful of the shop’s most high-profile and envied campaigns for Burger King, the “Truth” anti-smoking movement, Best Buy’s Geek Squad, Miller High Life and Ikea. Their fledgling agency will be called Goodness Mfg. and led by three former Crispin creative directors who resigned last week, along with two others who left previously.
The natural evolution of great creative shops should be the spawning of more creative shops. When I visited Portland Oregon about 10 years ago, it was clear that the caliber of the entire market was elevated by having Wieden + Kennedy in the ‘hood. It’s interesting to see that CP+B is spreading its seeds all over- with Alex Bogusky stating that Toy in NYC as a CP+B offspring- and now Goodness Mfg. in Venice.
Mr. Bogusky put the number of Crispin employees at 600, with 80 in the creative department. He also pointed out that this is not the first shop to break away from the agency — the first was Stick & Move, based in Philadelphia. Mr. Bogusky also considers Toy, under Ari Merkin, to be inspired by Crispin. “I think of myself as the father and Chuck [Porter] as the mother.”
However, for the kings of new media- it’s going to be hard for them to land new business- since they don’t seem to have a site up at either www.goodnessmfg.com (16 July 07 update- holding page is up) or goodnessmanufacturing.com and have cloaked their identities through the registrar. Another question arises in a google search where it seems that there is already a “Goodness manufacturing” out there- and it isn’t anything to do with advertising.
Considering that Crispin Porter + Bogusky is considered a leading new media agency, it’s odd that they, or their spinoffs don’t practice what they preach.
Does it matter to anyone that there already is a Goodness Manufacturing that is a completely different business (food, in this case)? It’s in the UK! And it’s not a trademark issue (even if the UK company were on U.S. soil) because, as you mention, it’s a completely different type of business. I don’t know what Crispin Porter + Bogusky preach, and I’m not in the advertising field, but I don’t really see why the snarky comment is on order because the new company took its time before posting a website, and used a name that happens to be the same as a small food company on the other side of the globe. I’m sure it has something to do with fancy-pants “branding” concepts that you ad people charge so much for.
I agree with Rob. The name issue is a non-issue since it’s both in the UK and in another industry entirely. It’s not as if they are calling themselves Microsoft Advertising or General Motors Communications.
As for the website, sometimes less is more. Every ad agency essentially says the same thing. Some are more clever than others. Perhaps they are just too damn busy working their butts off creating great work for their clients, building their business, and finding new clients to add more blah, blah, blah to the site.
Does it matter to anyone that there already is a Goodness Manufacturing that is a completely different business (food, in this case)? It’s in the UK! And it’s not a trademark issue (even if the UK company were on U.S. soil) because, as you mention, it’s a completely different type of business. I don’t know what Crispin Porter + Bogusky preach, and I’m not in the advertising field, but I don’t really see why the snarky comment is on order because the new company took its time before posting a website, and used a name that happens to be the same as a small food company on the other side of the globe. I’m sure it has something to do with fancy-pants “branding” concepts that you ad people charge so much for.