Letter to the editor: It has never benefited our customers

 
Letter to the editor Reply to the letter to the editor by Walter Merz, Werbewoche 41/07 of November 15.  
Dear BSW, I understand that your reaction to TBWA\ leaving the BSW and the directness of the reasoning is somewhat displeased. But we are no longer in the same boat. And we have also set a new course. It will take a few days, and then we'll love each other again from a distance. However, I don't want to leave one of the many little side blows uncommented on, because it doesn't just concern TBWA\:
The ranking: I mentioned the only valid position for TBWA\ at the time of the interview. I would never have expected that the BSW actually intended to publish such an incomplete ranking (over a third of the agencies did not take part, including the two largest networks). Incidentally, it was pure coincidence that it appeared in the same issue of Werbewoche. Publishing an incomplete list of 36 agencies, with partly consolidated and in some cases (that I know of) massively manipulated figures, cannot be in line with the claim of the Leading Agencies. Size alone is hardly meaningful and tells us nothing about the true resources of a company. The ranking has always served only one purpose for the BSW: The agencies should increase their revenues as much as possible so that the BSW can claim higher, revenue-based contributions. That's why you stubbornly insisted that as many agencies as possible take part. The fact that 22 BSW agencies (including those not affected by Sarbanes-Oxley) have not provided their figures could also mean that they have generated much more turnover but do not want to pay more contributions. We will probably never know, because TBWA\ will definitely no longer compete with BSW agencies in the future. Because it has never benefited our customers.
Andy Hostettler, CEO, TBWA\ Switzerland