AD AGENCY OF THE YEAR: BERLIN CAMERON

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- When Andy Berlin and Ewen Cameron first partnered in business, Mr. Berlin recalls, "we realized the amount of work done for a small brand ... is > AD AGENCY OF THE YEAR: BERLIN CAMERON $700 Million in Billings; Sterling Client List GLOBAL AGENCY OF THE YEAR: DDB WORLDWIDE Nailing $1 Billion in New Business DIESTE HARMEL TOP MULTICULTURAL AGENCY Latino Taste Moves to Mainstream Palate CLOSE SECOND: TBWA WORLDWIDE Captures $718 Million in New Business AGENCY REVIEWS FOR PAST YEAR See the Complete, 6-Page .pdf File They did. And the big players listened. From a staff of five The New York agency founded in 1997 as Berlin Cameron & Partners with a staff of five operating out of loaned office space today boasts $700 million in billings, fueled by a stellar 2003. Berlin Cameron/Red Cell -- now part of WPP Group, the world's No. 3 ad organization -- handles marketing messages in North America for arguably the world's best-known brand, Coca-Cola Classic. But it's also in the past year brought home agency-of-record assignments from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for allergy medication Zyrtec worth an estimated $74 million; cellular service provider Boost Mobile (estimated $50 million) and Dean Foods' White Wave Silk soy milk (estimated $5 million), following a competition with three of the U.S.' top creative shops. Berlin Cameron has, moreover, built its creative, strategic and scrappy reputation beyond the outsized personality of its founders. With its influx of new business, within the past 12 months it's hired some significant senior talent, including President Bill Grogan, former director of Coke brands at Interpublic Group of Cos., and Vice Chairman Jon Steel. Their addition helped convince prospective marketer partners there was a deeper talent reserve than the two principals. For its rare combination of new-business savvy, strategic insight, creative prowess and big personality, Berlin Cameron is Advertising Age's U.S. Agency of the Year. Needing WPP Still, Messrs. Berlin and Cameron agree that 2003's success wouldn't have been possible without the financial and operational resources provided by the agency's parent, WPP, which acquired the agency in December 2001 and added the shop to its Red Cell network. "We had to be part of WPP to look right, to be believably trustworthy to deal with these enormous marketing institutions," says Mr. Berlin, 53, who holds the titles of chairman at Berlin Cameron/Red Cell and co-CEO of the Red Cell network. Mr. Cameron, 39, is CEO of New York-based Berlin Cameron. New business is one measure of success. Last February, Berlin Cameron wrested Coca-Cola Co.'s $250 million North American Coke Classic business from Interpublic's McCann-Erickson Worldwide. Avi Dan, Berlin Cameron's director of new business, credits Mr. Berlin for understanding clients' "hidden agendas" -- those unspoken, often cultural issues marketers must grapple with inside their own organizations to get campaigns and marketing ideas approved. Satisfying existing clients But talent in winning accounts is only half the equation necessary for Related Stories: BERLIN CAMERON/RED CELL GETS COKE CLASSIC ACCOUNT WPP Agency Developed 'Real' Campaign COKE ADS TO SHOWCASE CELEBRITIES Soft-Drink Giant Adopts Tactics of Rival Pepsi WPP COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF BERLIN CAMERON Andy Berlin and Lee Daley to Head Red Cell "There is a genuine, deep passion on the agency's part for our success," he says. "They are smart people who speak their minds." Berlin Cameron deliberately keeps its ratio of staff to client billings small. Mr. Berlin, who has had his name on six agency monikers and who headed Omnicom Group's DDB Needham, New York, from 1992-93, says, "Having run a big agency, I know that there's a rather small percentage of people in any agency who are critical determinants of its future. It doesn't take droves of people to solve marketing problems -- it takes good people." 'Lean and mean' The agency is short on secretaries and multitiered account management. "Andy runs lean-and-mean operations," says a former employee. "He doesn't buy into fat offices or teams of assistants running around after him. He's a roll-up-his-sleeves kind of guy." That hands-on accessibility "made a big difference to me in terms of the quality of the [agency] team, and their experience and maturity as marketing and advertising executives," says Steve Heyer, Coca-Cola's president and chief operating officer, the man behind the Coke Classic shift to Berlin in 2003. The brand was awarded to Berlin Cameron after the agency won kudos on assignments for Dasani, Mello Yello and several other of the soft-drink giant's smaller brands. Creative leadership is split between Co-Creative Directors Jason Peterson and Izzy DeBellis. "The brain trust has gotten larger," notes Mr. DeBellis, a founding partner. "For a while, everyone did everything. Ewen was the planner who became CEO who also writes ads." Not 'slick' Mr. Peterson says the agency's approach to pitches isn't fancy -- no storyboards, no reels. "We're not necessarily slick with presentations. We are just good problem solvers with no bullshit." He says the agency spends a lot of time producing approved ideas. One of the key elements of the "Real" campaign for Coke, for instance, was to shoot real people in their own clothes in their own homes with their own real friends. "It is that kind of detail that was important to us," Mr. Peterson says. As the agency grows, both its founders are deliberately institutionalizing that cross-disciplinary ethic, and hiring what they call "integrated individuals" -- people who thrive while stretching beyond their training. "It's been nice to be made to feel uncomfortable," says Mr. Steel, who joined Berlin Cameron in September. A novelist and 10-year veteran of Omnicom's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, Mr. Steel led the agency's successful pitches for Zyrtec and White Wave Silk. "In the past, I've always and only been responsible for strategy." Agency origins In its current iteration, which includes Advertising Age as a client, Berlin Cameron came into being after Mr. Berlin split with former partner Pat Fallon, with whom he'd created Fallon McElligott Berlin in 1995. In need of a new home for his staff and clients, Mr. Berlin made some phone calls. One to Conde Nast Publications CEO Steve Florio, a friend and former client, delivered: Mr. Florio needed a campaign. The two men hammered out a swap. Carpenters and electricians were called in over a weekend, and Berlin Cameron & Partners opened its doors at 350 Madison Ave. on a Monday morning in late 1997. "The agency has risen and fallen a few times," says Mr. DeBellis. "At its core is a tenacity, and somehow we stayed alive." Before linking up with Mr. Fallon, Mr. Berlin ran Berlin Cameron Doyle, spun off in 1993 as Berlin Wright & Cameron from DDB Needham. Mr. Berlin ran DDB Needham as president for 15 months prior to heading Berlin Wright & Cameron; he moved to New York in 1992 from San Francisco, where he was a partner in Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein. As important as tenacity in Berlin Cameron's success is collaboration. For Mr. Cameron, an account planner by training, incorporating other resources comes easily: "I've always been interested in what I call 'natural' advertising -- that is, the influences in music and popular culture on brands." Hip-hop Cadillac He astutely understands how to capitalize on it. When Cadillac hired Berlin Cameron to launch its Escalade sport-utility vehicle, Mr. Cameron recognized its appeal in the hip-hop world, and recommended the automaker embrace that popularity and position the SUV as sexy and hip-a smart move. For Coke, Mr. Cameron last year helped engineer an alliance between the marketer, Creative Artists Agency and Universal Music Group connecting the "Real" campaign to the American Music Awards. This included a music video that was edited into a 90-second commercial. "The way Andy and Ewen built the agency is more and more relevant to clients today. They manage their approach to clients' business by giving clients access to their partners," says Lee Daley, co-CEO with Mr. Berlin of WPP's Red Cell network, which has 60 operating units in 35 markets. Sustaining momentum, rather than being a fleeting fashion, is the next challenge. Berlin Cameron "has a very strong team," says Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP Group. "They have to ... capitalize on what they've got, and not become arrogant or complacent."

AD AGENCY OF THE YEAR: BERLIN CAMERON

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