WPP’s Plush to be re-named Bento – with upgrading of studios, new edit suites plus expansion into music production
WPP’s controversial production company Plush Films, which launched amid a storm of protest from the production industry in 2003, will soon be relaunching with a new name: Bento.
The new operation will also have a new service offering, which will continue to be led by executive producer George Saada. The shareholders are Ogilvy & Mather, JWT, Grey Advertising and GPY&R
Says Saada (pictured): “The Plush model has been an outstanding success for its shareholders and clients. It has driven incremental value for all, and produced outstanding work. But Plush was modelled and became the biggest film production company in Australia at a time where the argument was between 35mm and 16mm film.
“The world has moved on, from off line to online and the impact is no more evident than in the film production area. We are relaunching Plush with new leadership and a new vision because we realize that to remain ahead of the pack we need to keep evolving. We’ll be substantially investing in the new Plush, upgrading studios, putting in new edit suites that will focus on content and viral production, and expanding into music production.”
Adds Tom Moult, executive chairman, Ogilvy & Mather: “George is the right guy for the job and the new and broader offering now in place has been enthusiastically embraced by the shareholders. We expect big things from the new Plush. Watch this space.”
Founding Plush EP Rob Spencer left for the EP position at The Guild in Sydney in December last year. His role was taken by Saada, who was Ogilvy Sydney’s head of TV. Since December, CB hears all but one of the production staff of Plush hired by Spencer has left.
Incidentally, Bento in Japan is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal.
30 Comments
Oh great now music and post production industry will be destroyed. George is the man for the job.
This is nothing new. Problem for Plush is that truly great talents in post and music won’t work for them. So, a watered down second rate service that some agencies are forced to use, while the cool kids whose parents don’t have a share in Plush get to work with anyone great they desire..
12.31. brilliant!
Q: How do you spot a bad director?
A: PLUSH
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet . . . and a sewer by any other name will still carry the stench, no matter the name.
If only the directors and production companies who have continued to do collaborative business with the very organisation created essentially to destroy them would wake up and realise that the long term damage to the industry is not worth their short term gains, then their unified efforts to embargo this new abomination Bento would kill the baby in it’s infancy.
Let the WPP shareholders continue on with their lowest common denominator work, this time without the cooperation of the industry, and we’ll see how far they get.
Bento-ver
Bento boxes always sound great: what with all that sushi and chicken teriyaki and salad and rice and dim sum. But you always walk away feeling underwhelmed; they’re like McHappy Meals for adults.
Not a fan.
Q. How many of the above would work for WPP?
A. All of the above pricks!
And lets face it, isn’t everybody trying the WPP/Bento model of keeping all services in-house!
Sad that they talk shareholders and not creativity or crafting. But not surprising.
Embargo them
Same crap different logo. Lets hope they are not 3rd line forcing this time.
A production company called Bento. Not very popular in Indonesia. Bento was the nickname given to President Suharto. Indonesia’s answer to Bruce Sprinsteen, Iwan Fals. He wrote a song called Bento and was imprisoned for 5 years. They killed Iwan’s son prior to his release. Bento, Bento, Bento.
3:16, dear chap…I won’t work for them. They can’t afford me.
(Insert evil laugh)
What’s that in my Bento . . . fish? . . . smell’s like fish . . . It could be skinned cat . . .
King Willy you are Queen Pussy!
It’s vile, the WPP group, the agencies under their retail umbrella, the shills masquerading as a production company who are willing to work against the interests of every one of their peers, the whole laundry list of villains, and every member of the production industry fraternity should take every opportunity to tell them all what we think, firstly by refusing to work with their ‘production model’ in any way whatsoever.
Boycott the idea now, while it’s still not too late, and show them that they can no longer treat the industry with such distain and still be welcomed anywhere. Public shaming is not a bad idea to reform behaviour that is just unacceptable, and boycotts work rather well when they are strictly adhered to by all.
5:07, I see what ya did there…clever stuff.
5-30pm. Sadly, you would ‘shaming’ 90% of the Industry!
@9:29
Really? Is that why the agencies in question have been forced to rebrand Plush as Bento to remove the smell from the enterprise? Is that why their entire staff including the managing director have fled in the past six months and the head of production from the leading agency in the debacle has had to step in and spin the news of the rebrand as an ongoing success story, now expanding into editorial, web delivery, and music and sound design? Is that why there has been such turmoil in the creative ranks at the shops under the WPP roof locally, and so much push back from those who have stayed to work outside of the Plush mandated model? Is that why more and more of the production companies with their rosters of directors, even those who would not be considered the A list are resisting the enforced fee sharing arrangements mandated by Plush now Bento and refusing to allow their directors, whom they spend countless hours and dollars promoting and career building, to work under the local WPP ‘production model’ which offers the agencies their directors’ services for free essentially, allowing Plush/Bento to carry very little overhead themselves? And is that why more and more production companies are refusing to even look at scripts from WPP agencies unless they are competing for the work on offer on equal ground to other production companies, including the in-house Plush now Bento?
If what you say is true, and it were the 90% you propose who work with Plush and now Bento and would have to be put on the ‘shaming’ list, then why the rebrand, why the PR spin, why the complete overhaul with Moult at O&M, the nightmares at Y&R both in Melbourne and Sydney? Where there is smoke there’s fire, and the sooner everyone in the production industry recognises the signs of trouble in what has been a very dirty business at WPP for the past several years and agrees to hold the line against their play, the better, healthier, fairer, and more creative our business will be again here in Australia.
If Plush was as genius as this press release makes out Ogilvy would have been able to fill the Head of TV position in Sydney. Most agency producers are ethical and have integrity. Being party to WPP’s big rigging behaviour is as ethical as Enron and the Lehman Brothers. Ethical agency producers understand the importance of stakeholder sustainability. A new name and logo won’t change corporate bullying and poor corporate values.
10:11 – Careful you’ll give yourself an ulcer. We are not artists, this is a commercial industry. Many networks have their own forms of ‘Plush’. It makes good commercial sense (in some cases). Dont hate the playa, hate the game.
Yes 1:27 this is a commercial industry governed by the Trade Practices Act.
this is a commercial industry THAT SHOULD BE governed by the Trade Practices Act.
According to the Trade Practices Act, any party that acts in restraint of free trade, acting as a cartel to fix prices, rigging the game in other words, listing preferred vendors to restrict competition, is operating outside of Australian law. Maybe it’s time for the ACCC to have a look at the WPP practices? Maybe it’s time for a production company that has been forced into such an arrangement(s), if in fact this has been the case, to turn whistleblower?
Our understanding is that in corporate whistleblower cases of this nature the prosecuting attorneys general are required to maintain the anonymity of the claimant in order to keep them from suffering adverse consequences in the marketplace, so maybe . . . ?
@1:27
Actually, what we’d like to do is give Plush/Bento the ulcer, of the bleeding variety, and as a consequence drive their commercial enterprise out of a business that provides a living for allot of creative people, a living and a creative industry, if not an art form, that has been damaged by their predatory practices.
This Bento thing will only prosper if the industry participates
As the saying goes “Evil will triumph when good men do nothing”
Personally, I like the new name.
Apparently it is a catchy shortening of the actual name, because they discovered it wouldn’t fit on the letterhead.
Bentoveratableandrogeredsenseless
You gotta love this stupid industry!
@ 7:34
Couldn’t agree more.
Why don’t the kingpins of the production industry in Australia, the group known to all as the ‘A’ list of Aussie commercial production, Ritchie @ Revolver, Masterton @ Plaza, Long @ Goodoil, Prince @ The Sweet Shop, Ms. Sproul @Exit, Galluzzo @ Finch, and/or any one of the other 30+ companies who comprise the local industry collectively or individually stand up and announce that the formerly Plush, now Bento ‘production model’ of the WPP owned agencies is an assault on fair business practice here down under, and that they will not only condemn their practices but publicly refuse to deal with the ‘production model’ established by the existence of Plush now Bento by the WPP group; that or tell us publicly why they disagree, or agree but refuse to act.
There is strength in numbers, and leadership is required from the top and most prosperous in order to give some protection to those who cannot command better and fairer practices by virtue of their rosters and their need to take what is on offer at whatever costs to stay afloat.
I love swinging by this blog as a (now) outsider. It’s a good read – usually funny, always hyped up!
Plush is bad. No doubt. Has it single handedly caused the devaluation of film as a craft, the increase in competitive pressure industry wide, and the refocus of marketing spend to an ever growing array of media and promotional options? Um, no. Ask a photographer who was around ten years ago (if you can find one) how he would compare his craft then from now. I think you will find he says “devalued” by the growing access and competition through falling barriers to entry.
Good, now, breath, step back from that tiny brief or ridiculous client request that makes no logical sense. Take a moment to look around you. Make no mistake, Plush/Bento/whatever is uncompetitive and annoying. But take heart. It hasn’t been rolled out past this test market, so its safe to say this model was burnt at the global level about 2 years ago. When they see the last 12 months as a curve at the end of FY review in a couple of months they are going to give this relaunch 12 months. It will fail. The creatives have broken the back of it over the last 12 months – and frankly there isn’t enough TV spend from the agencies to really support it into the long term future. Ironically, the change in marketing spend and falling margin on/in TVCs that everyone is blaming Plush for is in fact not of their creation, but will create their demise.
Now, back to your toilet paper / cereal / telco brief!
10.03. Ok, which one of you lot wrote that and name checked yourself!
9:11 – my money’s on galluzzo