Any day now, we could learn the outcome of the review for the CDW advertising account that has been underway for several months now. Two finalists, we're told, remain in the running for the computer product reseller's ad business: Ogilvy/Chicago and the Martin Agency in Richmond, Va. On Tuesday morning, we ran into Ogilvy Chief Creative Officer Joe Sciarrotta in the lobby of the building in which we both happen to work. He was all gussied up in a suit -- a decidedly different look than the jeans and tee that we've previously often seen him in when our paths have crossed. Sources tell us Sciarrotta may have been en route to the final pitch for the CDW business on that fateful Tuesday morning, though he certainly didn't say that to us.
In any event, we're also told Ogilvy has been pulling out all the stops to land CDW, even bringing in bigwigs from Ogilvy's New York headquarters to supplement the local team working on the pitch. Anything to impress the potential client, you know. Though Martin is a formidable competitor, there are those who think Ogilvy may have a decent chance at winning the CDW business, because it involves a lot of below-the-line promotional work. Ogilvy's complement of workers here in Chicago includes people versed in that particular sort of marketing work. And Ogilvy just may be hungrier -- having recently lost the Oscar Mayer business that parent Kraft Foods had handed the agency.
