Markets

Enfatico: Y&R's Stringham Gives Staff 90-Day Deadline on Dell

By Jim Edwards

Updated on: April 23, 2009 / 12:10 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

Y&R CEO Peter Stringham has given Enfatico 90 days to get its act together on Dell, reports AgencySpy. The blog's sources say they aren't clear whether the shop is on probation with Dell, or whether Stringham is merely trying to get the brand-new-giant-agency-from-scratch model right by banning distractions such as new business pitches.

UPDATE: A BNET source indicates that Stringham is trying to focus the Enfatico staff on the task at hand, and that Dell has not given the shop any kind of ultimatum. Let me bring some clarity to this: Enfatico was on probation with Dell from the moment Dell vp marketing Casey Jones lost his job as Enfatico's top client. When Enfatico's other key client, CMO Jeff Jarvis, bounced out of Dell in December, it was confirmed. It's advertising's oldest rule: When the client exec changes, expect the new client to change agencies. Only the most skilled client-handler can survive a client-executive change.

So the fact that Stringham (pictured) has to make a grand office tour to remind Enfatico staff of this law of advertising physics tells you something about how far behind the ball Enfatico is.

To get more technical, take a look at Dell's annual report and search for the word "advertising." Dell's advertising expenses decreased approximately $130 million in the last year, to $811 million in 2008, down from $943 million. You can see it's also cut 6 percent out of all its marketing/sales expenses.

This is a company that is in the middle of a gigantic cost-cutting operation. Enfatico, lumbered with global start-up costs, has turned out to be exactly the wrong business model at exactly the wrong time for this client.

But hey, fingers crossed that they can turn it around. Stranger things have happened.

Side note: What are we to make of the fact that Stringham is laying down the law and not Enfatico CEO Torrance Boone? A touch of adult supervision, perhaps?