The setup is expensive -- the ballroom, food and hotel rooms for
those in need of them costs the agency about $40,000 a day before
interruption insurance kicks in -- but worth it, when there are
hundreds of employees and hundreds of millions in potential new
business on the line. The firm's Los Angeles office has taken on
some of the trafficking responsibilities and last-minute buys from
clients who wanted to get on the air this week, he added.
Saatchi NY, located on Hudson Street , and KBS&P on Varick
Street were among the other agencies making it work without an
office.
Saatchi NY CEO Durk Barnhill told Ad Age that the firm, located
downtown on Hudson Street , has rented two conference rooms at two
hotels so its employees could prepare for the four pitches it's
involved in. "We are hurting and Saatchi is without power and the
majority of our people are as well," he said. "I visit them during
the day to thank them for working through this tough time and help
guide the pitches with Con [Williamson], our CCO, and Claudine
[Cheever], our CSO."
"Nothing is impossible is our motto," he added. "We will get it
done."
"Even in the age of mobility, the power outage across downtown
New York brought communication to a halt for the better portion of
[Tuesday], among both our staff and our clients who are based
locally," said KBS&P CEO Lori Senecal via email. "It was a
surreal experience for us."
Many of them made the trek uptown to parent company MDC
Partners' headquarters, located below Central Park, to have a place
to meet up and plug in phones and laptops.
"Members of our account teams and new-business teams who are
working remotely are assembling over both email and conference
calls and, in some instances, are planning local meetups. We expect
this to continue until power is restored at 160 Varick, which
according to the city, likely won't be until the weekend."
And, the fact is , clients based in the storm's path are in the
same boat. "Since many clients and prospects are in the same boat
they are postponing meetings for a few days," she said.