Agency of the Year: Momentum

Flu season was very, very good to Mark Shapiro.

Tamiflu’s January 2000 launch kicked off a stellar year for his agency, Momentum North America. The St. Louis shop’s first work for Roche Pharmaceuticals put an actor in a roving glass apartment and Momentum in the spotlight. From then on, success was contagious.

The agency’s, er, momentum came in three forms last year. Its creative reputation skyrocketed with major awards; its revenues grew 21 percent to $48 million; and it cemented relationships with key clients including American Express, Coca-Cola, General Motors, and Roche on the strength of brand-building expertise.

“We do experiential branding, with an agnostic point of view on what it takes for a brand to reach, persuade, and transact with consumers,” says president Shapiro.

Momentum has a strong family tree. Interpublic Group of Companies bought U.K.-based Momentum Worldwide (and its New York City office) in 1996, then St. Louis shop Louis London — PROMO’s Agency of the Year for 1995 — two years later. IPG merged the two in April 1999 to meld promotion and sponsorship disciplines. Momentum North America has 403 staffers in eight offices. Worldwide, the agency has $115.8 million in revenues from 56 offices in 35 countries. The agency works closely with sister ad shop McCann-Erickson Worldwide: about 20 percent of Momentum’s work comes from McCann-led accounts.

North American billings rose 17 percent to nearly $150 million in 2000, up an impressive 125 percent over two years. Net revenues rose 87 percent to $48 million in the same period. Of that, $10 million came from the 2000 purchase of St. Louis neighbor Waylon Co.

Plans this year are to round out each office — add sponsorship to the advertising and promo chops in St. Louis, bring more promotion expertise to New York — and build creative on both coasts, with St. Louis remaining the epicenter. That means widening the net on hiring searches to consider ad and consulting veterans.

Strategic in Every Way

Acquisitions have strengthened the business, not just the bottom line. Waylon beefed up St. Louis promo skills and added KFC and Nike to the client roster. (The shop already shared Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, and Gateway with its new parent.) Diamond Group brought along event marketing smarts, 10-year client American Express, and a stronger New York presence when IPG merged it with Momentum last year.

Revenue growth this year will come from existing clients and new business, not acquisition. “It takes a while to absorb acquisitions. You can’t buy too much too fast,” Shapiro says. Any McCann-led acquisitions likely will be overseas, to complement existing offices by geography or discipline, says Mark Gault, managing director for McCann World Group, New York City. Still, he won’t rule out more buys in North America: “Good companies will always be on our radar screen.”

In 2000, one quarter of revenue growth, or $2 million, came from existing clients (10 to 12 of which account for 70 percent of Momentum’s revenues).

“Clients appreciate what we do, so they’re giving us more opportunity. Our philosophy is, the greater share of opportunity with core clients, the better for them and for us,” says Shapiro. “Good consumer-focused companies understand the value of equity programming, all in sync, and not necessarily starting with 30 seconds of TV. That revelation hit a lot of clients in 2000, and they’re transitioning in 2001 with the economy softer and money scarcer. Companies are much more analytical about each marketing component.”

That fosters cooperation with sib shop McCann-Erickson. “We cracked the code on integration last year,” creative director Steve Hunt says. “Before that, it was painfully obvious at joint presentations [with McCann] that we were meeting for the first time. Now, it’s clear to clients that we know and like each other. We aren’t segregated by company.”

Take Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of the 2002 Olympics Torch Relay: Momentum brought cyclist Lance Armstrong to Coke, to make the relay relevant for consumers and retailers. “Anyone can say, ‘Here’s what you should do’ and not deliver the goods. We’re in the unique position to follow through,” says exec vp Stacey Goldman.

Momentum created a contest asking consumers to nominate inspirational people to carry the torch; McCann produced supporting TV spots. “It was really a big step for Coke to put a face on the relay,” says Hunt. The two shops also formed an Olympics integration team with Interpublic sibs Ventropy (for online), McCann Relationship Marketing (direct), Weber-Shandwick (p.r.), and FutureBrands (branding).

Momentum is “a critical resource” for McCann for two reasons, says Gault. First, its classic promotion work is “strategy-driven, highly intrusive stuff. We have huge respect for it.” Second, Momentum’s skill at experiential branding “brings brands to life in 3-D as much as possible,” Gault says. “Look at the Olympic Torch Relay. It’s an extraordinary feat of logistics. But more importantly, it’s driven by the brand strategy.”

Cooperation doesn’t necessarily have to be familial: On AmEx, Momentum works closely with unaffiliated agencies Ogilvy Worldwide and Digitas. Momentum balances McCann-led accounts with its own new — sometimes conflicting — business. McCann clients get first right of refusal to use Momentum when a competitor’s RFP arrives. If McCann clients take a pass, Momentum pursues the competitor’s work on its own. “We can’t compromise [Momentum’s] opportunities to build a vital client list,” Gault says.

New wins in 2000 include Nortel Networks’ sponsorship work worldwide; promotion, positioning, and advertising assignments for Aurora Foods’ Lenders bagels, Mrs. Paul’s, and Van de Kamps; and global activation of Gillette Co.’s 2002 World Cup sponsorship.

For Gillette, Momentum will create a global template local agencies can customize for their regions — much like the worldwide launch-event strategy for AmEx Blue, which bowed in Argentina in April with a lavish Broadway-style event with “a uniquely Argentinian presentation,” Shapiro says. A specially commissioned musical, Sueños en Blue, starred local showman Pepe Cibrin Campoy and ran three times, airing live on national TV on closing night. Blue Crews cruised the streets weeks beforehand, handing out game pieces-cum-tickets — similar to the giveaway strategy used in 1999 for Blue’s U.S. launch event, the Sheryl Crow & Friends concert in Central Park. Some 12,000 people attended.

“Globally, people are similar in life stages but different in culture. That’s what changes on a local level,” explains Goldman. “If not, programs get a bad rap, that they smack of Americanism. The biggest hurdle is getting past the corporate culture first” so clients realize the same message should play differently by region, she says.

Momentum won’t call it an annual event, but Central Park may see more shows modeled on AmEx’s 1999 concert. Best Buy execs liked the idea so much they asked Momentum to do something similar for the chain’s New York-area launch last fall. On Sept. 12, Sting played for about 30,000 fans. Crews in PT Cruisers passed out gamepieces good for concert tickets or in-store discounts. Best Buy got national exposure by running concert details in circulars for three weeks before the show.

Creative Chops

Boy, do Momentum’s messages play.

For the Tamiflu launch, the shop snagged PROMO’s top PRO Award and an Association of Promotion Marketing Agencies Worldwide Globe in 2000, and a Promotion Marketing Association Gold Reggie in 2001; AmEx’s Central Park in Blue earned a Super Reggie, two Gold Reggies, and a PRO Award in 2000; work with Boise Cascade and Buick also scored Gold PRO Awards last year, and a campaign for Southern Comfort took a 2001 Reggie. Heck, Boise Cascade is the only winner to take Gold Reggies two years running — and that’s in the office supply category.

Momentum doesn’t have a full-time staffer holed up writing awards entries. “We’re entering less … and we’ve been harsher on ourselves,” says Hunt. And few in the industry are complaining that the praise is undeserved. “All creative staffers are responsible for all things here, so we’re all exposed to different disciplines and aren’t pigeonholed,” says Hunt. “That keeps it fresh, and gets people to stay.”

It also helps when clients are willing to stretch creatively. Roche was willing to try something daring when it launched Tamiflu eight weeks behind rival GlaxoSmithKline’s Relenza. So Momentum put an actor in a Plexiglas apartment on wheels, carting it to 71 cities as the flu hit, parking it in high-traffic areas and unleashing “grannies” to hand out chicken soup mix and product brochures. The punchline on the trailer: “One person in this town who can probably feel safe from the flu” (November PROMO). By the end of the season, Tamiflu had outsold Relenza three to one and garnered a 58-percent share of the flu antiviral segment.

“Their account service people are a cut above in business and brand strategy. Plus, the creative staff are very business-savvy strategic thinkers.”
— Terry Montoya, Coca-Cola.

“We wanted to pave new ground in prescription drugs,” says Roche consumer products director Nancy Berkow. “We particularly liked [Momentum’s] combination of strategy and creativity. It wasn’t just creative for creative’s sake.” Roche reviewed several shops before choosing Momentum — partly on the strength of its 1999 Reggie wins for AmEx Blue.

“The timing and orchestration were the most impressive part,” Hunt says. “Unfortunately, it was a mild flu season, so we didn’t get to do as much as we could have.”

Showcasing strong results persuades other marketers to take creative risks. “These days, risk is defined by the creative message,” Shapiro says. “Business strategies can be innovative or unexpected, but not risky — look at all the failed dot-coms. Creative is where marketers take risks.”

Of course, not everyone bites. “Some bigger companies don’t allow risks,” Goldman admits. “[But] that never prevents us from putting big ideas out there.”

Once an idea sells in, execution becomes the big concern. “The scariest part isn’t whether our idea can work,” Hunt says. “It’s whether we can pull it off.”

Things Go Better with Branding

Momentum has pulled off some strong brand-building campaigns. This year, it’s expanding Coca-Cola’s Discover can sweeps and executing the brand’s NASCAR Fan Scan; the latter lets consumers redeem under-the-cap codes to eavesdrop on pit crew scanners during races, and dangles a sweeps grand prize of tickets and a ride-along at a November race.

“Their creative doesn’t happen haphazardly. It’s not just pretty creative, it’s brand-building creative,” says Terry Montoya, Coke group director-entertainment and national consumer promotions. “Their account service people are a cut above in business and brand strategy. Plus, the creative staffers are very business-savvy strategic thinkers. There isn’t any disconnect back-shop.”

Last November, AmEx tapped Tiger Woods to relaunch its flagship green card in the U.K. Woods played through Hyde Park — a first for the London landmark, and a nice extension of U.S. TV spots depicting Woods golfing through Manhattan. Last year, Momentum improved Bud Bowl’s game by taking the 13-year-old promotion online. “We had some ideas, but they brought it to life for us,” says Dan McHugh, A-B director of retail sales promotion. “They didn’t just offer a P-O-P and consumer hook.”

McHugh credits Hunt and team with solid creative, especially when it comes to P-O-P. “They make it eye-popping and deliver our brand message.”

Momentum’s Interpublic ties suit A-B. Access to shops worldwide and different disciplines help the client integrate its efforts, McHugh says. At the same time, Momentum has picked up ad assignments — mostly print and radio, but some TV work as well. “They’re spreading their wings,” says McHugh. The agency just helped A-B plan its World Cup 2002 campaign.

Even small clients get good brand work. The St. Louis Art Museum has used Momentum for 10 years for ads and promos. “They have an awe for our product,” says Kay Porter, director of community relations. “We offer such a contrast to their other clients, they consider it a pleasant break to work on our account.”

Telecommunications company Qwest, Denver, hired Momentum to work on its 2002 Olympics sponsorship and this summer’s International Golf Championship presented by Qwest, and asked the shop to evaluate the 50 to 100 sponsorship pitches it gets per week. (Sponsorship consulting and activation account for 20 percent to 25 percent of the agency’s revenues.)

“It’s refreshing that they don’t take a standard approach. They start with our strategy and use it as a yardstick for all sponsorship activities,” says Russ Natoce, Qwest vp-sponsorship and event marketing. “They’re extraordinarily flexible and very strong strategically. I expect their execution will knock our socks off.”

When it does, consider it added momentum.