ISOBAR
When your biggest client calls a review and then, a couple of months later, your top creative leaves the business, it’s safe to say your year doesn’t seem to be panning out too well. Unfortunately, that was the case for Isobar. When it lost Kellogg’s EMEA digital account to Digitaslbi in June, the agency struggled to bring in enough business to replace it. At least Simon Gill came in from Digitaslbi to fill
Nick Bailey’s shoes in May.
But the negative news continued with rumours that there were just 25 people left at the shop. Isobar denied this, saying its headcount had dropped 37% because of a “strategic review”. The agency refused to say whether this had anything to with the loss of Kellogg. Isobar did not provide any real detail on the strategic review, saying it wanted to focus on a global vision “with the creative use of digital”.
However, the upheaval does not seem to have helped Isobar push forward with plans to develop its ecommerce arm, which was one of 2015’s goals.
On the new-business side, Isobar won just one new account, Western Union, and lost 12. Of these, the agency says seven were projects that came to an end, two were “strategically transitioned to other operating companies within the network” and two were resigned.
Creative work included rebranding a Burger King branch in London for the Queen’s 90th birthday and teaming up with Youtube channel Unbox Therapy for the launch of the Huawei P9.
The addition of Matt Gee as head of digital transformation, who was taken on to relaunch global tech unit Nowlab, looked to be a good move. In 2016, Nowlab produced smart mirrors, Alexa apps, VR shopping and an interactive retail display that delivers content based on the viewer’s mood.
If Isobar is to survive another tough year, it looks as though chief executive Steven Moy will have to take more radical measures.