Why I Fucking Hate Crispin Porter So Much

by Iain on June 15, 2009

cpb_europe_logo_090611.pdf (1 page)

It’s pure jealousy, and fear.

I don’t love all their work. But I don’t love all my own work either.

In case you’re like me and don’t read the advertising press so much you might have missed out on the fact that CP&B bought a Swedish agency called Daddy. And if you’re not an agency person, you might not know much about Daddy. But I’ve come across them a few times recently. In fact I think they’re one of my favourite agencies in the world right now. They do great (sometimes brilliantly simple) digital work. Talk to the Plant is great. But my favourite thing is a really simple Facebook app that they did for Telia called Our Song (there’s a demo here - but try it out with your real friends on Facebook it’s awesome).

Anyway I digress. Daddy are a great agency.

So, back to my hating. Not only do CP&B do superb digital work like Whopper Sacrifice – one of my favourite things by a brand online full-stop. But as a ‘traditional’ (cough) advertising agency, Crispin decide to make their European creative hub an ex-’digital’ (cough) agency.

How dare they.

And just to be super-clear, it’s not the fact that they’ve bought a digital agency. They wouldn’t be the first to do that. Not by a long shot. It’s the fact that they’ve made it their creative hub. Which, in words at least, means that they’re confident for creative ideas to start from that point.

There’s plenty of agencies out there talking about how they’re ‘putting digital at the heart of everything’, and some of them might fiddle with a bit of process, or make a token hiring here or there. But it’s bold business-focussed statements like this (combined with great work) that make Crispin the kind of foes I fear the most.

Nice work you bastards ;-)

The official release is here.

11 comments

http://bit.ly/GJlhK why Iain Tait hates Crispin Porter so much

by davidburn (David Burn) on 31/12/1969 at 11:59 pm. #

RT @davidburn: http://bit.ly/GJlhK why Iain Tait hates Crispin Porter so much

by justinmccammon (Justin McCammon) on 31/12/1969 at 11:59 pm. #

Lot of good work coming out of Scandinavia. It’s those long winters and early mobile adoption they tell me.

by Charles on 15/06/2009 at 11:33 am. #

Tait sais what a lot of us are thinking today: http://tinyurl.com/njfr4q

by Easto (David Eastman) on 15/06/2009 at 11:36 am. #

And I love Crispin for all the same reasons. Of course I get to work here so that might skew my opinion. http://bit.ly/GJlhK

by melaniegt (Melanie Taylor) on 15/06/2009 at 3:54 pm. #

CP+B buying a ‘digital’ shop shouldn’t be a surprise really. They’ve been alive to the possibilities of online since day one. Steve Harrision compares ‘Subservient chicken’ to VW’s ‘snowplough’ in terms of it’s affect on it’s medium.

by rhayter on 17/06/2009 at 8:15 am. #

Having said that, they’re still bastards.

While I agree that not all their work is awesome (a talking VW Beetle? Really?) I don’t know anyone – myself included – who wouldn’t give their left nut to work there.

by rhayter on 17/06/2009 at 8:16 am. #

Just read an interview with Gustav Martner, who sold Daddy to Crispin Porter + Bogusky about creating his app – Copybox – a tool that advertising agency creatives use to create “reactive advertising” – global customization of how internet ads look and behave based on the conditions of each exposure. Neat.

http://www.agency.asia/issue-03/129-insight/262-copybox-the-copywriters-photoshop.html

by Simon on 24/06/2009 at 8:24 pm. #

[...] site as a “giant fishing net”.  Interestingly one of the blogs aggregated was entitled “Why I Fucking Hate Crispin So Much”. (He didn’t really, as it turned [...]

by Crispin goes Beta. « Francis Anderson on 26/06/2009 at 1:47 pm. #

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