[9] Ad Agency Drops Ball at the Super Bowl

I spend the majority of my non-Twitter internet time perusing Adage, Adweek and the like. I enjoy seeing which accounts are in review and which agencies replaced the incumbents of open accounts. A lot of the time the end of these agency-client relationships are the result of the departure of key figures in either of the two parties. Rarely ever do I come across an account that has been dropped due to a botched job by the agency that resulted in turmoil for the company, until today.

Earlier this afternoon I came across a tweet from GSD&M, a full-service advertising, graphic design and marketing agency located in Austin, that announced they would be welcoming the newest account to the GSD&M family with HomeAway. Also included in the tweet was a link to an Adage article that further detailed review process and acquisition. What was not highlighted in the tweet was why the HomeAway account was up for grabs.



Turns out HomeAway's previous agency Vendor, also based out of Austin, dropped the ball on a 30-second spot during the 2011 Super Bowl. Mind you that Super Bowl ads can run around $3 million and the estimated media budget for HomeAway is between $10-15 million (according to Adage).   Simply put, the commercial displayed a family in a sardine-can-sized hotel room where the chaos led to an infant being tossed face first into a glass pane accompanied with the tag line "Test Baby". Showers of criticism covered HomeAway as they took heat for making light of child abuse and injuries. The ad was yanked and the company quickly began a search for a new agency that could help them recover from the misstep. 

This begs the question of who is to blame for this? Was it the creatives fault for the controversial idea? Should the planners and strategists be held responsible for not accurately gauging the emotions and reactions the consumer would feel? Was it the fault of the HomeAway executives for green lighting the ad to air? On a whole I believe it is the fault of both the company and the agency as the entire process is a two-way street. Whatever the case is the ad should not have aired, especially on such a costly and crucial day for advertising.

The best decision HomeAway made was to start fresh. Selecting GSD&M to help them do so is as equally great of a move. You can see the influence of GSD&M behind many great campaigns including BMW, Southwest Airlines and The PGA Tour. One can only hope HomeAway can reposition themselves in the hearts of the consumers, but with the help of GSD&M it is probably a safe bet to say they will.