Once upon a time, there was a little town called Boston that wasn’t so little when it came to advertising. Then the agency M & A spree began and, combined with the mass exodus of national brands, agency after agency skipped town or shuttered their doors forever. For years, the town has lived in the shadow of New York but that may be about to change.
Today, Cadillac awarded close to half its national and regional creative business to Modernista, a very cool agency in Boston that, aside from work they’ve done for Hummer, many may never have heard of before. This, of course, is no watershed moment nor will there be a flood of national brands flooding Boston’s Boylston Street (a misnomer. really since most agencies have found homes elsewhere in the city) but to see Modernista kick some Leo Burnett butt surely pleases the underdog agencies around the country.
With the reliability of a monthly celebrity nipple slip, the change comes on the heels of a new marketing director stepping in but with a twist. The new marketing director, Liz Vanzura, used to be the marketing director for Hummer, the account handled by, surprise, Modernista. She left the Hummer post for Cadillac February 1. No doubt, there was a significant bit of Whitey Bulger-like backroom dealing going on to make this one happen. Lance and Gary must be very pleased.
