After a few tumultuous years, Grey Canada has its groove back
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Stephanie Nerlich knew exactly what she was getting into.
When the president of Toronto agency Lowe Roche was hired to take the helm at Grey Canada, the stakes were high. Jim Heekin, CEO at Grey Worldwide, told her he had “very high expectations” for a Canadian operation that, for years, had suffered significant client and revenue losses and a slow degradation of its reputation.
“We’d had a couple of rough years in Canada,” Heekin says. “We set out for the best leader we could find. I saw at least four pretty prominent candidates, and Stephanie was my first choice.”
Things are looking brighter at Grey and Nerlich is a big reason why. With new leaders, a healthier internal culture and client wins where none were expected, Grey may not be quite ready to dominate Canada, but is looking much like its older self.
From 1999 to 2008, the shop was led by John Clinton, was working on international accounts, consistently winning national ones and doing solid business with $18 million in annual revenue. When Clinton left he was succeeded by Ann Nurock, a network hire from South Africa. Over the next three years, rumours of a toxic internal culture started to kill the company’s reputation, though the shop did surface occasionally for an outstanding project (it won a Gold and Bronze Cannes Lion in 2010 and 2011, respectively).
No one is willing to speak on the record about what was wrong, but it’s clear Nurock was not a good fit. The agency’s revenues dropped below $10 million as clients moved elsewhere in Grey’s network or quit the agency altogether. Nurock certainly demonstrated a hunger for new business, opening a satellite office in Kitchener, Ont., to reach the small city’s abundant tech startups. But client wins were rare until 2011 when, bleeding revenue and unable to plant a flag in a major consumer campaign, Grey got its new president.
Nerlich is well-respected by her peers and most believe she, if anyone, can turn Grey around. John Clinton, now CEO at Edelman Canada, worked with Nerlich at JWT. “Stephanie is extremely bright and capable and has the tools to do what needs to be done.”
Changes came fast under Nerlich’s presidency. The Kitchener operation was shuttered, the Toronto team moved to new offices and new faces populated the corner offices. Malcolm McLean joined from TBWA to be head of planning, former Karacters president Maria Kennedy was hired to run the Vancouver office and former BBDO VP Patrick Scissons was named chief creative officer. The leadership change was total and complete.
Scissons and Nerlich
Nerlich also acquired Birthplace, the digital and social media agency Scissons started in 2009. This not only put Birthplace’s client list on Grey’s books, it bulked up the agency’s digital chops.
With all these changes, client work has trickled back in. Grey is currently working on Guiness’ first Canadian campaign, handling Ketel One vodka and overseeing Captain Morgan work. It has firmed up its relationship with P&G and GlaxoSmithKline and the agency was in the final two for Audi Canada (an account Nerlich ran at Lowe Roche). “It was a torturous loss,” says Nerlich, adding that almost winning the business was a vote of confidence for the agency.
With this boost in momentum comes a bit of cash. Heekin’s goals for the first year of Grey’s rebirth were modest, focused not on profit but shoring up the remaining accounts. “I did not expect to see great profit movement in year one,” he says. Since Nerlich took over, her team has grown revenues almost 25%, moving north of $10 million again.
Whatever Heekin’s goals, “she blew way by it,” he says. Grey is back in the black.
What do you think of Grey’s chances? Post your thoughts in our comment section.
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