Business is so brisk in Tracy Locke’s newly remodeled digs in Wilton, CT, that the office’s designers were asked to install fish eye mirrors in the upper corners at hallway intersections so staffers wouldn’t collide.
“We were growing, even during the down years. We remodeled to allow for all the staff we’ve added and are adding” to both the creative and account management teams, says Executive VP/ General Manager Tim Zuckert. The company says it has hired over 100 employees in the past year, for an estimated 500-plus headcount.
A wholly owned subsidiary of media conglomerate Omnicom, Tracy Locke’s corporate headquarters are in Dallas. While Omnicom doesn’t let its subsidiaries disclose revenue, Promo estimates that the agency generated over $87 million in 2003, with a three-year growth rate of 21.4%.
It attributes the growth to both new (KFC and Gran Marnier, for example) and existing clients (including Pepsi, Harrah’s and 7-Eleven).
While media work is centered in the company’s Dallas office, Tracy Locke’s Wilton-based team develops and coordinates its “brand activation network.”
“We’re completely unbiased in terms of media,” explains Lon Schwear, promotions group president. “We just want to put the right resources against the right business need, and do good work.” To that end, he says, the agency frequently works with Omnicom siblings, such as media agency J. Walter Thompson, with which it just completed an international campaign for Lipton Tea.
Until recently, Schwear wore two hats at the agency. He dropped the chief creative officer title in January, when he hired media veteran Mike Musachio away from Ryan Partnership. They each describe the other as big thinkers, who are unabashed by a breakout idea.
The agency proved that last year with its Play for a Billion campaign for longtime client Pepsi. A combination below-the-cap contest and an on-air entertainment tie-in with the WB television network, the Summer 2003 campaign was big news, if only for the unprecedented size of the prize. Who cared if a West Virginia school teacher qualified for “just” $1 million in the end — he’d had a fair shot at $1 billion on national TV! (To top off this Cinderella story, he gave the bulk of the prize to charity.)
Tracy Locke is revisiting the Pepsi campaign for Summer 2004, working again with siblings BBDO on TV development and Tribal for online components; this time, the program culminates with a broadcast on ABC-TV.
Another Pepsi breakthrough was launched by Tracy Locke and BBDO at this year’s Super Bowl: The Apple iPod “I Broke the Law” spot was a sensation. Music-lovers flocked to buy the cola and grab under-the-cap codes for free — and legal — iTunes downloads. Even when the news broke that some consumers were merely tilting the bottles to view the codes, without buying, Schwear said he still claimed success. “We created a simple and big concept that launched in three months. And it drove huge volume.” Thinking big pays off.
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