FCB (advertising agency)
Foote, Cone & Belding, FCB, is one of the largest global advertising agency networks. It is owned by Interpublic Group and was merged in 2006 with Draft Worldwide, adopting the name Draftfcb. In 2014 the company rebranded itself as FCB.
Parent Interpublic Group is one of the big four agency holding conglomerates, the others being Publicis, WPP, and Omnicom.
History
Founded by Daniel Lord and Ambrose Thomas as Lord & Thomas in Chicago in 1873, FCB is the third-oldest advertising agency in the U.S still operating today. Albert Lasker began work for the firm as a clerk in 1898, working his way up until he purchased it in 1912. Chicago and New York were centers of the nation's advertising industry at the time, and Lasker, known as the "father of modern advertising," made Chicago his base from 1898-1942. When the agency acquired the Sunkist Growers, Incorporated account, the citrus industry was in a slump with an excess of produce. Lasker helped increase the consumption of oranges by creating a new market with his "Drink an orange" ads. Lasker's use of radio, particularly with his campaigns for Palmolive soap, Pepsodent toothpaste, Kotex feminine hygiene products, and Lucky Strike cigarettes, not only revolutionized the advertising industry but also significantly changed popular culture.In 1942, Lasker sold Lord & Thomas to its three top managers, Emerson H. Foote in New York City, Fairfax Cone in Chicago, and Don Belding in California; they renamed it.
In 1963, Foote, Cone & Belding began to offer stock and went public. FCB began to expand in Europe that year.
In the 1970s and ‘80s major clients included Mazda, RJR Nabisco, AT&T, Coors Brewing Company, Payless ShoeSource and Mattel. In the 1980s, the agency began an in international expansion. In 2000, it had more than 190 offices serving clients in 102 countries.
Draft Direct Worldwide and Foote, Cone & Belding merged in June 2006, to form Draftfcb. Less than a year after the merger, in April 2007, Kmart switched its $740 million account from Grey New York to Draftfcb Chicago without a pitch.
On 10 March 2014, the agency was renamed as FCB, six months after the appointment of worldwide CEO Carter Murray.
In May 2015, Adweek named Murray to its inaugural "Power 100" list. One year later, Murray appeared on the "Power 100" list for the second time.
At the beginning of 2016, Susan Credle joined FCB as Global Chief Creative Officer, coming from Leo Burnett in Chicago. In July, Adweek listed Credle as one of the U.S.’s top creatives in its "Creative 100" issue.
FCB promoted Chris Shumaker from North American chief marketing officer to global CMO following its recent win in the Clorox creative review.
Campaigns and awards
The agency and its work have been recognized at a number of award competitions—Cannes, The One Show, and industry competitions Echoes, El Ojo, Effies, and Caples—as well as agency-of-the-year honors for its New Zealand, Indonesia, and Durban São Paulo, Mexico City and Kuwait offices. Its Canada office has won digital agency-of-the-year in four consecutive years starting in 2016.2008
Ad Age regularly lists Draftfcb-created spots for brands like KFC, Oreo and Taco Bell among IAG/Nielsen's most-liked and most-recalled ads, and Time.com's Lev Grossman noted in his Nerd World blog that the spot for EA Games' Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, "Oh No You Didn't," created by Draftfcb San Francisco, was the greatest video game ad of 2008.2010
In January, the agency was recognized on Advertising Age's annual A-List, which honors "the agencies that showed moxie, innovation and effectiveness in 2009."The 2010 U.S. Census campaign, led by Draftfcb New York, received Gold in the multicultural category and the Research Achievement Award at the 2010 Advertising Research Foundation David Ogilvy Awards for Excellence in Advertising Research.
Draftfcb won more than 345 awards globally in 2010, including six best workplace honors for Draftfcb Chicago. Draftfcb Spain's "Cutty Shark Shanghai-London" event was named one of the Top 10 events of the first decade of the 21st century, according to Spanish magazine Estrategias. Draftfcb Johannesburg won two Silver Radio Lions at Cannes for Toyota.
2011
In 2011, judges awarded Draftfcb New Zealand the Best in Show, Media Agency of the Year and Leadership awards, as well as five gold and three silver awards at the CAANZ Awards. Draftfcb New Zealand was also named Media Agency of the Year at the Fairfax Media/AdMedia Agency of the Year Awards in 2011, 2010 and 2008. Draftfcb Malaysia was voted the number one creative agency in Malaysia in 2010 by Cream Magazine.Draftfcb San Francisco's "Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2" campaign took home Gold in the Outstanding Overall Marketing Campaign of the Year category and a Silver in the Best Online Rich Media category for their work on Mass Effect 2 at the 2011 MI6 Game Marketing Conference and Awards Show. In addition, the San Francisco office won two Bronzes for the same campaign at the 2011 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
2012
In 2012, Draftfcb received 17 Cannes Lions, four ARF David Ogilvy Awards for Excellence in Advertising Research, more than any other agency, for PACCAR, US Postal Service, KFC and MilkPEP, and three CLIO Awards.Campaigns in 2012 included OREO "Daily Twist" and New Zealand's MINI "Driving Dogs." Chicago's Halloween web video for Kmart, Argentina's work for ZonaJobs and Orange County's "Operation Alaska" for Taco Bell also created a lot of buzz.
2013
In 2013, Draftfcb Healthcare's "Escape The Stall" work for the Crohn's & Colitis Founding was named "Best Philanthropic Campaign" at the Manny Awards by Medical Advertising News. Draftfcb Healthcare also won for "Get Your Shift Together" in the "Best Nonbranded Campaign" category for its work for TEVA targeting shift workers.In 2013, Draftfcb won the Facebook Blue Studio Award for OREO "Daily Twist." Draftfcb won three Reggie Awards for OREO 100th Birthday Celebration, Sharpie and Taco Bell. Eight offices won 14 CLIO Awards, six One Show PENCIL Awards for Valspar "Cityscape," UTEC University Potable Water Generator, Prime Television "Secret Diary of a Call Girl," Engen Calendar Fire Blanket and SPCA/MINI New Zealand "Driving Dogs." The agency also won five North American Effie Awards for OREO "Daily Twist," PFLAG "Stories to Inspire Change" and SPIRIVA "Elephant," in addition to 35 Lions and a Grand Prix at the 2013 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Adweek awarded Draftfcb the first-ever Project Isaac Gravity Award, its top honor.
2014
In 2014, FCB won 38 Lions including one Grand Prix, seven Gold, 10 Silver and 20 Bronze. FCB Brasil's "Protection Ad," was recognized at the Clio Awards, London International Awards, El Ojo de Iberoamerica, One Show, D&AD Awards, Andy Awards, ADC Awards and earned the top honor at Cannes in the Mobile Category. At Cannes, FCB won gold for their campaigns "Bank Job" and "A Rainbow for the Rainbow Nation" in Media, "Speaking Exchange" in Direct and Promo & Activation and "Protection Ad" in Mobile and Media.2015
2015 Sport England's 'This Girl Can' created by FCB Inferno, made to encourage women to exercise, won two D&AD awards, including the White Pencil - Creativity for Good, nine Creative Circle silver awards, and three British Arrows awards for Public Service Advertising, Best 60-90 Second TV Ad, and Best 60-90 Second Cinema Ad.FCB won 36 awards at the 2015 Lions Festival including one Grand Prix, 10 Gold, nine Silver and 16 Bronze. FCB won the Grand Prix for Good at Lions Health and the D&AD Award for Sport England's "This Girl Can" by FCB Inferno. FCB won gold Cannes Lions for "Shadow Wifi," " NIVEA Doll," "Print For Help," "This Girl Can," "The Unforgotten," and "Joe Boxer Inactivity Tracker." At the 2015 Effies, FCB won four awards for "Hey MS, Take This," "The Real Cost: Getting Teens to ReThink What They Know About Cigarettes," "The Truck Whisperer," and "Milk-Bone Brushing Chews Shopper Marketing Launch Campaign."
The CEO of the company is one of the most active executives on Instagram, posting multiple times a day in 2015.
2016
FCB brought back 47 Lions, including the Health & Wellness Grand Prix for Pearson’s "Project Literacy" by FCB Inferno, and eight Gold Lions for "Project Literacy," "The Baby Stroller Test-Ride by Contours," "Songs of Violence," "Paradise Hill," "Color for the Colorblind," "NIVEA Doll," and "Looking Back."FCB also received 19 Silver and 19 Bronze Lions, making 2016 the network's strongest Cannes Lions performance to date. At the D&AD awards, FCB took home 10 Wood Pencils, five Graphite Pencils, three Yellow Pencils and one White Pencil, also winning one Wood pencil at the D&AD Impact Awards. FCB was recognized at the One Show and received seven Gold Pencils, six Silver Pencils, and eight Bronze Pencils.
At the Cristal Festival, FCB South Africa won Agency of the Year.
Bully Hunters
FCB Media initiated a marketing campaign called Bully Hunters which consisted of a livestream event held in mid-April 2018 which aimed to combat misogynist harassment in video games by deploying "bully hunters" to kill abusive opponents in the game . The livestream itself consisted of pre-recorded footage of faked harassment as acted out by associates of FCB Media.Claimed sponsors of the event included SteelSeries, Vertagear, CyberPowerPC, the Diverse Gaming Coalition, and the National Organization for Women.
SteelSeries considered the campaign to be damaging to their brand and misrepresented the level of SteelSeries involvement. The company released a statement stating that the way Bully Hunters represented the gaming community was wrong and disingenuous, adding stating that SteelSeries was not involved in the management of the event and did not pay FCB Media to produce it. A CyberPowerPC representative stated "What they told us was completely than the way they executed it" and that they felt misled.
Brandon Cooke, FCB’s global chief communications officer, told Polygon "As this effort did not live up to our high standards, we decided to end this program, but hope the conversation it has raised around ending harassment in gaming continues".
By the end of the campaign all claimed sponsors had withdrawn their support.