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2008 : 2007 : 2006 : 2005 : 2004
Hotline: Digital agency to be called Play
Source: Campaign I Published: 10 December 2004
The digital agency being set up by M&C Saatchi and the former itraffic directors Jon Sharpe, Ethan Segal and Matt Gorzkowski is to be called Play. Each party will have a 50 per cent stake in the venture.
Find out more about Play... |
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Former itraffic diectors reveal details of M&C venture
Source: Revolution UK I Published: 9 December 2004
Former itraffic directors Jon Sharpe, Ethan Segal and Matt Gorzkowski and M&C Saatchi have launched Play, a new interactive marketing agency.
Play is a 50-50 joint venture between M&C Saatchi, which floated in London in June this year, and the three directors Sharpe, Segal and Gorzkowski. It has already won its first two clients, a major FMCG brand and a leading publisher.
The new agency will offer interactive marketing services including strategic planning, creative and media planning and buying across multiple digital channels, including the internet, mobile, TV and outdoor. M&C Saatchi's only current online offering is through its direct-response arm Lida.
Jon Sharpe, managing director of Play, said: "People are fundamentally interactive creatures and virtually every medium is now interactively enabled, so to us it didn't make sense to launch anything but an interactive marketing agency.
"However, when people think of interactive marketing they still typically think of online advertising. We aim to change that perception by using digital technology to facilitate positive interactions between our clients and their consumers across all media."
The former itraffic team led the interactive marketing for on some of M&C Saatchi's clients, such as British Airways and Wanadoo, along with well-known brands like NSPCC and Cahoot.
Tim Duffy, chief executive of M&C Saatchi, said: "We worked extensively with Jon, Matt and Ethan on common clients such as British Airways and Wanadoo while they led itraffic and have always had the utmost respect for them.
"The opportunity to partner with them was too good to turn down and the launch of Play is testament to the importance that interactive marketing will be accorded in M&C Saatchi's business."
Find out more about Play... |
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Saatchi joint venture signs Nestle Purina
Source: Mew Media Age I Published: 26 November 2004
Nestle Purina is the first company to appoint the yet-to-be-named digital joint venture between M&C Saatchi and ex-itraffic directors for an online marketing project, NMA has learned.
The new agency is headed by Jon Sharpe, Ethan Segal and Matt Gorzkowski, who quit itraffic in July. It's expected to reveal its new name and official launch in the next few weeks.
The firm is currently calling itself Plan B, but Sharpe said that this is just a code name that the agency is using with media vendors. He wouldn't confirm whether the company is working with Nestle.
The Nestle Purina portfolio includes pet food brands such as Felix, Winalot, Bonio and GoCat. It's not yet clear which of these brands the agency is working on or whether it has been appointed on a long-term basis.
Until now, Nestle Purina has chosen to share its interactive work between a number of different agencies, including Ogilvy Interactive.
Find out more about Play... |
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M&C digital joint venture ready to roll
Source: Campaign I Published: 12 November 2004
M&C Saatchi and the former itraffic directors Jon Sharpe, Ethan Segal and Matt Gorzkowski are in the advanced stages of setting up a joint-venture digital agency.
Sharpe, Segal and Gorzkowski, who left itraffic suddenly in the summer, are already working at the M&C Saatchi offices. Sources have suggested that negotiations over the size and price of M&C Saatchi's stake in the business are all that is delaying an announcement.
The M&C Saatchi chief executive, Tim Duffy, said: "At the moment we are exploring ways we can work together and I am optimistic that we will find a way to do that." Gorzkowski declined to comment on a joint venture, but said that an announcement of the trio's plans was imminent.
"We are keeping a tight lid on what we are doing but watch this space," he said. "We are excited about the new company but we are still deciding on a name." M&C Saatchi's only current online offering is through its direct-response subsidiary LIDA. A digital arm would enable the agency to capitalise on its existing above-the-line relationships.
M&C Saatchi's client Wanadoo is currently at the shortlist stage on its digital account, which itraffic resigned following October's merger with Agency.com.
Another M&C Saatchi client, British Airways, is also due to review its digital business, held by Agency.com. Sharpe, Gorzkowski and Segal worked with the airline at itraffic. Despite speculation that the account could follow them out of the agency, British Airways has stated its support for Agency.com.
Find out more about Play... |
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Gadfly
Source: New Media Age I Published: 08 October 2004
Gadfly has had a number of phone calls this week from the great and not-so-good of the digital agency world, suggesting that he check out what the three musketeers of ex-itraffic fame - Jon Sharpe, Matt Gorzkowski and Ethan Segal - are up to in the M&C Saatchi offices. Now M&C boss Tim Duffy insists that it's all above board and is just an informal arrangement helping some old mates out by allocating them some free office space at Golden Square.
Big Jon S is, of course, singing from the same songsheet, with lots of 'watch this space'-style promises. But rumour-hound Gadfly isn't so sure. For one thing he's never had a landlord as nice as Mr Duffy. For another there's the question of whether this 'informal' arrangement has anything to do with the upcoming British Airways pitch for digital work. Bearing in mind that M&C currently handles the above-the-line work and the three ex- itraffic lads pretty much ran the BA account until a few weeks ago, the airline might consider it a bonus to have both offline and online work nicely integrated and coming out of one shop. Or they could just like the coffee there. Gadfly wouldn't dream of speculating either way.
Find out more about Play... |
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After U.K. itraffic exodus, BA reviews acount
Source: Marketing Vox I Published: 27 August 2004
British Airways put its account into review following some executive departures at digital agency itraffic. The airline spends about 5 million quid on online efforts annually. The agency's three top managers, Jon Sharpe, Matt Gorzkowski and Ethan Segal left the agency after itraffic's parent, Agency.com began folding the itraffic brand into Agency.com's in the U.S. New Media Zero reports that rumours had persisted that the three had tried and failed to buy out the brand from the parent company, although an itraffic official said, "We'd never countenance anything of the sort."
Find out more about Play... |
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BA loooks at new agencies after top staff quit itraffic
Source: New Media Age I Published: 27 August 2004
British Airways is on the hunt for a new digital marketing agency after the management upheaval at incumbent itraffic in the last fortnight.
BA confirmed this week that it had issued a request for proposals from agencies.
Digital marketing manager Joe Sikorsky told NMA, "We're reviewing our current relationship and looking at other agencies."
If BA were to sever or reduce ties with itraffic, it would mean the end of one of the longest-running and most lucrative client accounts in the UK digital market.
This year alone, BA is planning to invest nearly £5m in digital marketing and sees its future in expanding its digital marketing expertise.
It has built a solid relationship with itraffic since the agency was appointed in 1999. Itraffic survived a major roster rationalisation by BA during the travel industry crisis post-9/11 and has become integral to the airline's marketing strategy.
The upheaval at itraffic came after the sudden departure of its three most senior managers: MD Jon Sharpe, client services director Matt Gorzkowski, who worked on the BA account, and business development director Ethan Segal. Their moves came shortly after Agency .com's US office announced plans to fold the itraffic brand back into the rest of its operations. At the time, Agency.com in the UK said it would keep itraffic going.
But industry speculation is now rife that the three managers, who are setting up their own digital agency, had originally proposed to buy out the brand but were turned down by the Agency.com board.
Itraffic interim MD Andy Hobsbawm denied that the itraffic brand had ever been up for sale. "We're not in the market to sell itraffic and don't know of any buyout. We'd never countenance anything of the sort."
Find out more about Play... |
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Future of itraffic in doubt as three directors depart
Source: New Media Age I Published: 13 August 2004
MD Jon Sharpe, director of client services Matt Gorzkowski and sales and marketing director Ethan Segal have all left the marketing agency. The news could put at risk its relationship with British Airways, by far its biggest client, which was overseen by Gorzkowski.
Parent company Agency.com, which would only confirm Sharpe's resignation, said that the three former managers were planning to set up their own business together.
Andy Hobsbawm, director of Agency.com and MD of Agency .com Europe, has stepped in as acting MD for itraffic London. He will manage the agency alongside the three remaining directors, media director Ilana Abrahams-Nolte, creative director Paul Banham and operations director Melanie Doyle.
Hobsbawm admitted the resignations came "out of the blue" and that it was "regrettable" to be losing three senior people in one go.
"I can't pretend there wasn't a bit of figuring out about the best way forward," he said, "but we're confident that we have it covered between the four of us. As far as we're concerned, its business as usual."
The departures raise further questions about the future of the itraffic brand, which is being phased out in the US. Hobsbawm insisted that the group still planned to keep the itraffic brand in London, as has been previously stated.
Agency.com has started looking for replacements both internally and externally. "We already have headhunters on the case, but will also look within itraffic and the wider Agency .com network, including our US offices," said Hobsbawm.
Last December, former directors David Shiell and Alain Portmann quit itraffic to set up their own digital agency, Web Liquid, which recently picked up the Hilton account after itraffic resigned it in a contract dispute.
Find out more about Play... |
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