Failure of Saatchis takeover bid preserved our culture, The Monkeys partner tells panel
One of The Monkeys’ partners has spoken of his relief that Saatchi & Saatchi botched its bid to buy the creative agency in 2011.
Speaking on a panel at Mumbrella360, The Monkeys group strategy director and partner Fabio Buresti told how the failed attempt by Saatchis unified the agency leadership and put them into a position to later be acquired by Accenture, which was a better cultural fit.
The 2011 project fell apart after a document was left visible in the Saatchi & Saatchi office and the information leaked before the deal was done. The plan had been for The Monkeys management team to take on the Saatchi brand, which was struggling in Australia at the time.
They can’t even stand up for their original own words which clearly sent them into damage control and requested to change this article.
Also everyone knows internally there are financial pressures.
Good with the talk this place. They’d never mention account loses just the 3 year old take-over and the odd slapstick ad in the shape of a 30 sec tvc. Nothing about account loses, financial pressures or standing up for the words originally said.
I can’t think of a single agency anywhere in the world that would talk about account losses. If, indeed, there have been many.
“When you talk to a holding company they care about the money, they think about shifting accounts around and saving dollars here and there, whereas Accenture, all they wanted to know about was our culture and they didn’t even talk about the financial side of it”……..
Really??? I don’t buy that…every business sale always has due diligence…if Accenture didn’t, they were not being responsible to their share holders and I find that very hard to believe.
It more so reads like the 2011 Monkeys management talk were just not talking to each other
Shame on you Mr.Buresti. You’re forgetting that the agency brand you’re slagging off, is the same one that gave you your first break into planning, and took a punt on you when you were in your first set of strategic diapers. Good on you guys for selling to Accenture, but I’m pretty sure there were a few cheers at Saatchi’s as well when the deal in 2011 didn’t transpire.
[Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy]