We left London with a little bit of money in our pockets, a Czech director on our side, and a look in our eyes that said: “hey, let’s make some advertising”. 

The locations were a little scary from the outside…

…and client area bore an uncanny resemblance to level 7 (aka in ‘The Bunker’) in the N64 smash hit Goldeneye. 

but the setups looked great:



…and the hotel was very pleasant.  Here's Russ Anderson from Nokia Czech'ing in.

Fab getting a last minute call from Scott:

 
"What do you mean you can't make it to the shoot?"

 
Toby makes some last minute changes to the script:

 
Anna ‘the squirrel’ Smith was keeping a close eye on finances 

A well earned beer:

Every year Campaign magazine publishes their 'school report' issue,  scoring UK agencies on their performance over the year. They always say something like, 'our scoring system is based on how an agency has performed against our expectations, not how it compares to its competitors. So if a great agency has a mediocre year, it will likely score lower than a previously duff agency that has a promising year'. This means that, of course, they always get calls from outraged CEOs saying, "God's balls, Jemima! How can you give Mediacorp six out of ten when my agency only got four, despite winning the prestigious and enormous Land of Fauxleather Furnitureworld account? I'm so gutted I may have to cancel our lunchiepoo at my club."

Despite what Campaign says, everyone looks at the scores as a competitive ranking. So, for ease of comparison, here's how the different agencies stack up. (Scores go from 2 (a year to forget) to 9 (outstanding).

How Campaign
scores agencies.                                               

9 Glue,
Partners Andrews Aldridge
8 AKQA,
RKCR/Y&R, VCCP
7 AMV,
Adam & Eve, CHI, CMW, Dare, DDB, Elvis, Iris, Kitcatt Nohr, Leo Burnett , M&C Saatchi, MCBD,   McCann, Mother, Ogilvy One,
Poke, Proximity, Publicis, Rapp, Saatchi & Saatchi, Wieden + Kennedy, Work Club
6 Agency
Republic, Albion, AIS, BMB, Brooklyn Bros, DLKW, Euro RSCG, Golley Slater, JWT, Karmarama,  Lean
Mean Fighting Machine, Leith, Lida, Naked, Profero, Rapier, The Union, TMW,
Wunderman
5 BBH, Draft
FCB, EHS 4D, Ogilvy, Tequila, Red Brick Road
4 DHM,
Fallon, Farm, HMDG, JWT, Krow, Leagas Delaney
3
SapientNitro, St Luke’s, WCRS           
2 Agency.com,
Lowe, TBWA

How agencies score themselves:

9 –
8 AKQA, AMV,
CMW, Dare, Elvis, Glue, Iris, Kitcatt Nohr, Leith, Leo Burnett, M&C Saatchi, McCann, Mother,
Ogilvy One, Partners Andrews Aldridge, Poke, RKCR/Y&R, Rapp, VCCP
7 Adam
& Eve, Agency Republic, Albion, AIS, BMB, Brooklyn Bros, CHI, DDB, DHM, DLKW,
Draft FCB, DHM, Elvis, Fallon,Golley
Slater, Leagas Delaney, Lean Mean Fighting Machine, Lida, MCBD, Naked, Profero, Proximity,
Publicis (7.5), Rapier, Saatchi & Saatchi, Tequila, Wieden + Kennedy, Work
Club, Wunderman
6 BBH, EHS
4D, Euro RSCG, JWT, Krow, SapientNitro, The Union, TMW
5 Farm,
Lowe, Ogilvy, St Luke’s
4
Agency.com,
3 TBWA,
WCRS
2 –

Interesting things to note:

– Most agencies think they had a good or excellent year in 2009, despite worst recession in living memory
– None is arrogant enough to score themselves 'outstanding' (9)
– Agencies generally rate themselves higher than Campaign does