shakin' up the method?

Here at method lust we love all things light, fluffy, and full of giggles! Like puppy dogs, and kittens, and butterflies! Well, except for the giggles part, cause if my cats started giggling, I'd be scared as crap, and running for the door, ok? Just sayin'. But while we usually stick with the light stuff here, every once in a while something big happens, and I think you'd want to know that, too! And I can't believe I totally missed this article (from October!), cause there's some big stuff happening in it! Check it out:

"Maker of Household Products Has Small Budget, but Growing Market Presence
by Jack Neff, Adage.com

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) – The tony, design-centric Method brand today named Droga5, New York, as its agency of record, even as the marketer continues to look for a new CEO.*

The independent creative boutique is the latest big-name agency to lay claim to the high-profile if small-budget assignment, which generally has had media spending under $1 million a year.

Back from hiatus
The account had been dormant since late last year after Method parted ways with Omnicom Group's TBWA/Chiat/Day, Playa Del Rey, Calif., a spokeswoman said in a statement. In late 2006, TBWA succeeded Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Miami, which was the first agency to handle the account.

"In the past year, we shifted away from large-scale advertising and focused on earned media programs developed by our in-house creative team, like our 'Detox Your City' program we conducted in key cities across the country," the spokeswoman said, explaining the prior departure of TBWA a year after it won the assignment.

It's not just agencies Method has parted with lately. Alastair Dorward, who had been CEO for more than seven years, left the San Francisco-based company in August. He followed Francesca Schuler, VP-brand, who left in May. Neither position has been filled yet, the Method spokeswoman said. The marketer said it is not seeking to fill the marketing role. Mr. Dorward and Ms. Schuler couldn't be reached for comment by deadline.

Campaign due in early '09
Method awarded Droga5 the creative assignment without a review to create a new marketing campaign to break early next year. "Droga5 is a dynamic agency that is known for taking traditional advertising initiatives and turning them upside down," Eric Ryan, chairman and co-founder of Method said in a statement. "We share the same passion and dedication to creating innovative and unique experiences for people, and we are thrilled to be partnering with such a talented team."

"Method has built an amazing brand in such a short period of time," Droga5 Creative Chairman David Droga said in the statement. "They're clearly destined for even further greatness."

As Method continues its CEO search, Method board member Dan Swander is acting as interim CEO. Mr. Swander previously started his own consulting firm, Swander Pace & Co., and served as chief operating officer of two food companies.

Market share increases
You'd expect this much personnel and agency turnover for a business facing tough times, but that doesn't appear to be the case for Method. According to Information Resources Inc. data, the brand had sales of more than $84 million across its far-flung household and personal-care categories and had gained share in almost all of them in the 52 weeks ended Sept. 7. That doesn't count Costco, another retailer where Method has had a growing presence in the past year.

Method did, however, apparently fall short in a bid to cash out on its success earlier this year. People familiar with the matter said the company was up for sale as its backers sought a payday similar to that of Burt's Bees, which went for a heady multiple of more than five times sales to Clorox Co. last year. The Method spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the company had been for sale, but said it's not now."

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Alright, a couple notes of interest here, folks! One, looks like we'll be seeing the return of method to the advertising world once more! We haven't really seen too much in the way of advertising (besides word of mouth, and as the article says, the Detox Campaign they've been doing so wonderfully!) in quite a while, so I look forward to that! But uh, yeah, the CEO has left the building, as well as the VP of branding; and what's that talk of method at some point last year possibly having been up for sale?! A "no comment" to me definintely means it's true, but it does sound like they've changed their minds about the whole thing. (I'd hate for that to happen and they go the way of companies like Burts Bees, or Scharffen Berger Chocolate, Airborne (and the founder of Airborne so didn't like how her company was being taken care of, she bought it back last year!, etc.) Who really knows (well, they do, but we won't! Ha ha!) what went on where all of this is concerned, but let's hope method rocks it out in 2009 and keeps doing what they do best, great products beautifully designed, that work - from a company that really cares about what they're doing (and not just the bottom line!)