Pubdate: Fri, 05 Jul 2002 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298 ANTIDRUG CAMPAIGN KEEPS OGILVY & MATHER In a surprise decision, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has kept the New York office of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, part of the WPP Group, as its agency for media services, research and strategy. Ogilvy has handled the assignments, with billings estimated at $152 million, since December 1998. The decision, made Wednesday after an 11-month review, was unexpected because the review was called after the government accused Ogilvy of overbilling and leveled civil and criminal charges against the agency. In February, Ogilvy agreed to a $1.8 million settlement of the civil charges. The criminal investigation, centered on whether Ogilvy employees altered time sheets, is continuing. "We're delighted to continue to work with" the antidrug office, Ogilvy executives said in a statement. Ogilvy had maintained that the problems were inadvertent errors in timekeeping, stemming from inexperience in handling government contracts. Ogilvy has since revamped its accounting system to comply with government standards. The review had been narrowed to Ogilvy and these others, all in New York: the team of Foote, Cone & Belding and Initiative Media, both owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies; two units of the McCann-Erickson World Group division of Interpublic, McCann-Erickson Worldwide Advertising and Universal McCann; the team of Bates Worldwide, part of the Cordiant Communications Group, and Zenith Media, part of the Zenith Optimedia Group, jointly owned by Cordiant and the Publicis Groupe; and Zenith teamed up with a Publicis sibling, Saatchi & Saatchi. The contract has the same terms as the current one, for one year with four one-year renewal options. The creative part of the account is produced mostly by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. The decision to keep Ogilvy may generate complaints in Congress because in hearings last month, two representatives criticized the agency. An article in Advertising Age quoted one, Representative Mark Souder, Republican of Indiana, as saying, "Preferably when somebody has been found guilty of cheating, they don't get the new contract." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D