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But surely there is a hope of rescue for the agency that won

±±¾©Èü³µpk10's Agency of the Decade for the 90s? Caroline Marshall asked

five observers, each with highly individual and successful records, for

their ideas.

MARC SANDS - The answer to HHCL's decline lies in a focus on clients and

innovation, according to Marc Sands, a former HHCL account director who

is now the marketing director at Guardian Newspapers.

It is rare that an agency can come back from the misery that was HHCL in

2001, but for anyone experiencing more than a touch of schadenfreude -

keep it to yourself, it is misplaced. They were the first in a new breed

that genuinely wanted to break the mould. St Luke's, Mother and Fallon

followed but HHCL was the daddy and the industry owes its full

support.

Three things made HHCL a mould-breaker. First, a radical new process for

developing advertising ... called Collaboration. No matter what

department you were in, client included, you could contribute to the

process. It worked and has been copied by agencies old and new.

Second, creating a new advertising aesthetic. ±±¾©Èü³µpk10s for Tango, Fuji,

Maxell and First Direct were effective, talked about and different. It

was a fresh approach. Clients wanted more and more of it.

Third, unbelievably talented people - I was not one of them. Everyone

wanted to work there or let it be known they were interviewing.

And then? The quality of staff declined - HHCL asked the next generation

to bear the standard and they couldn't. HHCL's creed became itself

rather than its clients, to the point of styling itself Professional

Radicals.

Few clients are interested in such self-aggrandisement.

How to recover? Generate a new advertising aesthetic. Hard, yes, but

HHCL has done it before and with the abundance of talent still there,

they can do it again. Focus on clients not yourselves. If you want to be

Professional Radicals, fine, but spend more time doing it and less time

talking about it. Do not go back to the original core values, the rest

of the industry has caught up. Instead focus energy on innovation

again.

HHCL found its zeitgeist once; it became the industry's. It is time to

create it again.

NIGEL BOGLE - Bartle Bogle Hegarty's founder and chief executive

suggests finding a leading-edge solution that redefines the agency's

positioning now it is no longer the new kid on the block.

The sheer speed with which accounts have left HHCL says more to me about

the precarious nature of our business than it does about the agency.

Particularly when some losses have been directly connected to client

management changes; always the hardest situation to defend. It's

chilling to think any of us could be three phone calls from

disaster.

Howell Henry will have made mistakes. We all do, often at the height of

success. It's a drug that intoxicates but blinds us to emerging

weakness.

So often it's not what we do, but what we don' t do in the good times to

stay on top. Ask Marks & Spencer.

The temptation now will be to fix the problem in hand. I wouldn't

bother.

You'll just spend your life playing catch-up. Much better to play

leapfrog.

Find a leading-edge solution that fundamentally redefines the agency's

position in the market now it is no longer the new kid on the block.

Some of the inspiration for that can come from the past. To make a

business great again look at what made it great in the first place. In

HHCL's genes lie lateral, radical thinking and a willingness to

challenge established mindsets.

That's good news because a big new agenda is staring this industry in

the face but has yet to be seized. It is about moving from old concepts

of advertising via interruption to new concepts of brand engagement. In

short, branded content. An exploding media landscape is there waiting to

be plundered.

It would require a package of new skills, different ways of working,

vision with substance and leadership. Plus someone who will batter

prospects into submission. They don't have far to look there. In

essence, HHCL reinvented.

But whatever it does I wish the agency a speedy recovery. It will be

tough but it's definitely do-able.

TOBY HOARE - Toby Hoare, the group chief executive of Bates UK, faced a

similar challenge at Y&R London in the 90s. He suggests a new name,

relaunch and measures to boost staff morale at HHCL.

In January 1993 Y&R London was in serious trouble. ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 asked four

industry big wigs to offer some pearls of wisdom to put things

right.

Rupert Howell was characteristically forthright. He described the

management challenge as "one of the biggest challenges in advertising"

for someone "brave and prepared to make a long-term commitment" to

rediscover what had historically been a "great agency". Eight years on,

it feels strange for me now to be writing this!

HHCL succeeded because it offered something refreshingly different, with

a creative product which could rarely be ignored. All four founders were

known and respected, driven on by Rupert's hunger. Today HHCL is neither

new, nor does it seem to produce brave ideas other agencies crave for

themselves.

I'm not sure HHCL can ever recreate what it had, but it can certainly be

a strong, vibrant and profitable agency.

I would not move offices, but I would consider a new name - perhaps

letting the new amigos have their names above the door. I would involve

Rupert to relaunch the new agency. I would remotivate and incentivise

the staff - preferably with performance-related bonuses not long-term

Chime share options. I'd identify clients who could provide the sort of

creative opportunities once presented by First Direct, AA and Tango ...

put another way, I'd go back to basics!

Controversy, rebelliousness and gutsiness have all been HHCL

trademarks.

It must seem hard now, but the staff must keep faith with themselves and

their obvious talents - or as someone famous in adland once said, "be

brave and prepared to make a long-term commitment to rediscover a great

agency".

Whatever happens, it's important for adland that New HHCL succeeds. It's

dull not having their latest campaign to argue about.

PETER MEAD - Omnicom's vice- chairman argues that British advertising

needs a strong HHCL. He suggests re-engaging the founders and examining

what it means to be a mature enfant-terrible.

I think in many ways HHCL is a victim of its brilliantly conceived and

executed positioning in the advertising market place which took it into

such a prominent position in the 90s.

It invented the irreverent approach to the advertising establishment

that's spawned lots of imitators since.

It was always aware of the strengths and weaknesses of its offering

going forward and some years ago when I took over at the IPA, at the

beginning of the 90s, the agency very kindly invited me around to talk

to them about the way forward. I'm not saying my advice made it a

success but ...!

Seriously, British advertising needs a healthy HHCL. It has at its

disposal one of the great creative talents - Steve Henry - and one of

the best new-business winning machines advertising has seen for many

years - Rupert Howell.

Despite its enormous success it appears to have run into trouble

recently.

Why? In my view because it has become a mature enfant-terrible, a real

and problematic contradiction in terms.

Irritating as it might be, I think Rupert and Steve have to help their

infant redefine itself and grow up in a way that isn't inconsistent with

HHCL's principles and beliefs.

They have to help them Simon Burridge, who is an old friend of ours, and

you couldn't have a nicer, more committed man to help you make things

happen. They also have now, I think, a degree of affection around the

business that is willing them to succeed. Long gone are the days when

they upset people like me by calling us dinosaurs! There is no question

that HHCL is a very powerful and valuable brand in our business. It will

need a lot of focus and quite a lot of hard work to turn things

around.

I for one wish them nothing but success in that quest.

ROBIN WIGHT - The WCRS chairman sees a problem he has faced at his own

agency: founder starvation. His recommendations could be summed up: get

Rupert, Robin (Azis) and Adam (Lury) back.

My fondness for HHCL is not just that it's a sort of WCRS in exile.

(Steve Henry and Axel Chadelcott deserted our ranks to join up with my

fellow Old Wellingtonian Rupert Howell.)

But among the half-dozen WCRS-ers in exile, I particularly admire HHCL

because it has had the courage to be more radical than I have ever

had.

Now should they stay extreme or has the time come to normalise

themselves into a sanitised 21st century version of Howell Henry? The

answer depends on the capability of the people at the helm: Steve and Ax

are still there.

But Rupert is away making bells Chime, Robin Azis is building

international networks and Adam Lury is thinking somewhere.

I myself have seen the impact on an agency when most of the founders

flee the nest. It's taken WCRS a decade to get back into its stride to

reinvent its core values, albeit with different players. Many of Howell

Henry's losses can be attributed to Sod's Law: new clients at Egg, ITV

and the AA. A client at Tango with his mind on an MBO and a competitor

(Coca-Cola) chanting "Kill Tango" because of the success of their

campaign.

More worrying than the losses are the pitches that haven't been won by

HHCL. It is this that suggests to me that HHCL could be suffering from

that well-known WCRS disease: founder starvation.

For most brand relaunches my approach is always to reinvent the basics

that made the brand great. In a virtual recession, the case for the

cost-effectiveness of intellectual radicalism is as strong as ever, but

needs to be done all the way.

If it was my money, I would recall Rupert Howell, Robin Azis and Adam

Lury for six to nine months. I am sure that if HHCL has the courage of

its original convictions, it can triumph again.

But without those convictions, what is the point of HHCL?