Advertising Agency Overview and Analysis: Crispin Porter

Advertising Agency Overview and Analysis: Crispin Porter & Bogusky

Agency Uniqueness

Crispin Porter & Bogusky (CP + B) is a fully-integrated advertising agency that currently employs over 1,000 "full-time, late-working, on timing, below-budgeting, overnight Fed-Exing, hard-charging, clutch-saving, coffee-chugging, pop-culture changing" marketing fanatics. In viewing this company description alone, one can begin to understand the extra "something" that CP + B strives to add to its agency dealings in order to adhere to its own company mission statement and standards as well as satisfying customer demands -- which is key to agency success above all else.

CP + B maintains a series of unique strengths and services, and boasts a note-worthy client list including internationally-known names such as: Under Armour, Axe, Vitamin Water, Domino's Pizza, Coca Cola Coke Zero, Old Navy, Jell-O, Kraft, Best Buy, Microsoft Windows, Hulu, Burger King, Ikea and Volkswagon -- and this listing is just the tip of the iceberg. CP + B has, in its over 22 years of business, grown from a one-office operation based in Florida to an internationally present agency with six five additional locations in London, Sweden, Canada, Colorado and California. Additionally, CP + B maintains a unique execution network that allows the agency to cover all key markets on a global level despite the absence of a physical office in these locations.

One, if not the most, unique and important strength of CP + B is its ability to get brands on the map. CP + B has not only successfully launched successful advertising campaigns for relatively new companies, but has been able, through its work, to bring companies who had seen significant collapse to new successes through redesigned campaigns based on new focuses. For instance, prior to CP + B's work with Volkswagon in 2005, Volkswagon's Rabbit model -- described as a boxy, fuel-efficient hatchback prone to catching fire and breaking down, was the symbol of VW's collapse in America through the 1980s. In 2005, CP + B suggested resurrecting the Rabbit name, noting the past issues with the model, but trying instead to change its story.

CP + B has long been known for utilizing viral marketing and creating nutty characters to boost interest in brands. Take, for example, the "Subservient Chicken" advertising program created by CP + B for Burger King to aid in the promotion of its "Have it Your Way" campaign and help the company come back from a state of obscurity in which it existed at the time of the campaign. Such successful programs and models utilized by CP + B often include viral marketing websites, television and print campaigns, etc. Unique and based in the company standard of shooting for excellence, CP + B's campaign for Burger King did wonders for the company, and upon utilizing its tactics on the re-launch of the VW Rabbit, this campaign additionally brought satisfactory results.

Upon the running of the CP + B VW Rabbit ads, VW's sales went up, dealers were more enthusiastic, and more importantly for CP + B, its work on the new campaign in the first five months of the job was covered in nearly every major media outlet (Bloomberg, 2006, pp.1). In viewing these successes, which represent only a fraction of the company's success as a whole, one can understand why CP + B has been named "Agency of the Year" 13 times in the trade press (Advertising Age, 2009, p.1).

Organization as a Marketing Communications Firm

CP + B has, since its inception as an agency, proven its worth as an organization that has the ability to set new standards in the market as one of the top marketing communication firms in the world. In viewing the company's client list alone, one can immediately understand that CP + B must be doing something right.

Perhaps most notable about the company, is its ability to essentially create the field of viral marketing. CP + B was one of the first advertising agencies to turn to the Internet in hopes of bringing about significant notice to the companies which it represented. In looking at the example of Burger King and its viral marketing strategies, one can see the success that the CP + B campaign brought to the company, as this success remains both a significant and unparalleled achievement in the advertising field.