CASE STUDY

Case Study: Saatchi and Saatchi

Case Study

Case Study: Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide

Summary

Faced with a set of brutally tough choices in the Nineties, Saatchi & Saatchi's leadership team defined a new vision and global strategy and set stretching three-year financial goals. In this case study, Paul Melter, Worldwide Director, CompaSS, explains how the balanced scorecard was used to turn ambitious strategic aspirations into operational reality.

Introduction

Saatchi & Saatchi Copenhagen is Denmark's most creative advertising agency according to current agency rankings, with 69 points, 20 points ahead of their nearest competitor.

Saatchi & Saatchi Copenhagen also dominated Creative Circle's list of Denmark's top 50 creatives, taking three out of five of the coveted top spots. Creative Director Simon Wooller at No. 1, Rasmus Petersen, No. 3 and Lasse Bækbo Hinke, No. 4.

Fulfilling its dream to be a hothouse for creative talent, Saatchi & Saatchi Copenhagen not only has a reputation for creating edgy, ground breaking work, but has delivered powerful commercial results for their clients, best exemplified in recent campaigns for Sprite Zero and Quiksilver.

The Sprite Zero “No sugar - no bulls..t” campaign led to a 26.6 percent increase in sales in Scandinavia and 8 million people in the region saw the viral films. The campaign won at every major awards show in radio, integrated and outdoor, including Gold, Silver and Bronze at Cannes Lions.

The “Dynamite Surfing” viral for Quiksilver was viewed 35 million times worldwide. Such was the cult appeal of the clip, popular TV show Mythbusters made an episode investigating the dynamite surfing phenomenon and “Dynamite Surfing” will feature as a case study in Adam Morgan's Eat the Big Fish 2.

Saatchi & Saatchi CEO EMEA Simon Francis said: “Our creative success as a Network is unparalleled. Awards versus size, we are five times more creative than any other network and Copenhagen's recent success is further evidence of this. Empowered and enabled by the unique structure of our network, Copenhagen continue to punch above their weight.”

Answer one:

However, along with many other organizations, its phenomenal growth of the 70s and 80s was brought up short by recession in the early 1990s. By 1995 the agency was on the brink of bankruptcy. As Paul Melter, Worldwide Director, CompaSS (as the agency calls its scorecard programme) recalls: “Throughout the 1970s and 80s we experienced rapid growth through acquisitions. We were essentially competitors only connected through common ownership”. Before getting to the balanced scorecard, the agency completed a phase of strategy reformulation and structural changes that began with new personnel being appointed at the top of the organization. Both the Saatchi brothers left the company and in 1995, Bob Seelert joined as chairman who later hired Kevin Roberts as chief executive officer (CEO) in April 1997. Seelert was the key architect in demerging Saatchi & Saatchi from Cordiant Communications back in December 1997. He also was the key catalyst in formulating Saatchi & Saatchi's new corporate vision and strategy.

Roberts, however, was the key person in ensuring Saatchi & Saatchi ...