For those who haven't yet heard, CareerBuilder has put its account up for review because its latest crop of Super Bowl ads didn't finish in the top 10 in USA Today's Super Bowl Ads poll. Cramer-Krasselt, the agency that made CareerBuilder what it is today through stellar, breakthrough, memorable advertising, was justly incensed and has pulled out of the review process. Good for them! Even more interesting, CEO Peter Krivkovich sent out an internal memo blasting their former clients. Some excerpts:"In our entire history...I'm not sure there has ever been anything as baseless or unbelievable than that. It's so ludicrous and they are so serious about that poll it's almost funny. Being floored would be an understatement. We can proudly take credit for their success...Despite all the great work and making them famous, their sole reason is, at best, unsophisticated, unbusinesslike and from the standpoint of how to run a business, unprofessional."
Depite being significantly outspent by Monster.com over the past five years, C-K's advertising has helped thrust CareerBuilder to the number one spot in jobs posted, site traffic, and revenues. Traffic is up 43% and awareness 64%.
"To our amazement, to our total astonishment, all that astounding business success was less important than one poll. They wanted us to make them famous; we did that in spades. ..But the TV ads did not make the top 10 in the USA Today poll - a poll that everyone knows doesn't mirror results."
The purpose of advertising is not to win popularity polls. The purpose of advertising is to drive results. Good for C-K for standing up to the monkeys in charge. Some clients are just not worth having!
