Cramer-Krasselt: Winning the Spin Battle... Against Clients

For years, even the most bitter of break-ups between ad agencies and their clients were kept civil on the surface, usually because the client didn't want its dirty laundry aired, and because the agency did not want potential clients to worry about future confidentiality.

But as the average half-life of agency/client relationships shrinks each year, agencies seem to be getting much more aggressive in explicitly working to shape the story once things go sour.

Consider Jeremy Mullman's AdAge story today on the Super Bowl woes of CareerBuilder, which saw its ad-meter scores dip despite changing agencies in hopes of raising its game-day rankings.

The story demanded writing. After CareerBuilder and Cramer-Krasselt parted ways, the client pursued the traditional route of playing nice. But Mullman reminds us that the agency decided to holler from a different songbook.

That claim, of course, contradicts C-K CEO Peter Krivkovich, who made a stir last winter when he quit the CareerBuilder business in a huff after, he said, he was told the account had been placed into review solely because of the Ad Meter results. "There are a few times in your life when you have to tell someone to fuck off and mean it," he said at the time.

Since then, Krivkovich seems to have mellowed.

"Asked about the most recent poll, Mr. Krivkovich at first played coy.

Oh, were they in the game this year?" he asked, before conceding, with a chuckle, that he'd seen the latest Ad Meter results. "I was sitting on a plane going through the papers, and I have to say, it was interesting."

The Krivkovich strategy provided immediate spin benefit, but also probably business risk. His early comments effectively framed C-K as ad-meter-obsessed zombies, and also provided a news peg that elevated the annual debate about the worthiness of spending on the Super Bowl. But the move undoubtedly will cause at least a few conservative clients to think twice about getting in bed with C-K, fearing unflattering leaks if the agency gets its feelings hurt.

Then again, some potential clients may actually find such behavior attractive, figuring that any agency with such cojones must be really, really good.