The Hypocrisy Of Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Look agencies are always the worlds biggest hypocrites. It’s true. But, you have to applaud, laugh, and shake your head when you see Crispin Porter + Bogusky bemoaning the flack they’re receiving for crowd sourcing a logo design for their client Brammo Motorcycles. Alex Bogusky, creative god to some and immature frat boy leader to others, got a nice little feel good pat on the back from Edward Boches. Why do I say “feel good pat on the back?” Well, Alex’s tweet earlier today certainly conveys that he believes Edward (who sides with CP+B) was spot on. For what it’s worth, I think it was a dumb gimmicky idea.

On with the show…so why do I think Crispin and Alex are hypocrites? Well, CP+B has had a loooooooong standing policy/philosophy that negated ever doing spec-work. As indicated by Ad Week in the 2008 Agency Report Card article, Nike was the only time they reneged on this philosophy.

This proved to be an overconfident move when the MDC shop cut 7% of staff, about 60 people, in early ’09. Agency backtracked on its no-spec pitch policy as relationship with Nike quickly soured over creative differences, learning that sometimes the process provides valuable foresight into the future success of the client/agency pairing.

Make no mistake, crowd sourcing a logo design where the winner get $1,000 is spec-creative. The $1,000 prize doesn’t even come close to compensating for the time and effort that will go into a logo design. Look, you can’t have an agency principle that says no spec creative, but then advise your clients to exactly the opposite. Where’s the integrity? If you waffle on something as simple as whether you’re for or against spec-work, what else will you waffle on? Oh, the hypocrisy.

advertisingisfun

for your information, crispin has been doing spec work for numerous pitches for at least 2 years. so your point is negated.
Toni

CP+B should pay the designer of the winning logo the compensation they deserve and make amends. I'm more disturbed by the fact that an agency powerhouse is taking advantage of hungry desperate designers while they rake in the big $
barrettrossie

Agencies need to experiment with new methods. You can't create policy until you've experienced the pros and cons. Well, you can… but you'd be an idiot.
barrettrossie

Agencies need to experiment with new methods. You can't create policy until you've experienced the pros and cons. Well, you could… but you'd be an idiot.