Score: 4
Last year: 6
How the agency rates itself: 7
US-based private equity company Lake Capital purchased Engine for £100m in 2014 and the reverberations continue to be felt – not least at DF London.
First there was the agency’s rebranding from Jam in June 2015 to bring a more consistent look to Deep Focus, Engine’s international digital division. And the synergies to be gained from Deep Focus’ closer alignment with Trailer Park, Lake Capital’s entertainment and content marketing specialist, had not gone unnoticed.
Little more than a year after the rebrand, an internal reorganisation resulted in the loss of the well-regarded Richard Costa-D’sa and Iain Matthews, the agency’s chief executive and chief strategy officer respectively.
As a result, Matt Edwards, the WCRS chief executive, was appointed to lead both operations as part of a plan to align DF London more closely with its Engine sister agency. Strategy is also run in tandem with WCRS by Matt Rhodes.
Debbie Klein, Engine’s chief executive for Europe and Asia-Pacific, has been at pains to point out that while both agencies will maintain their identities, both will draw significant benefit from a closer relationship.
Against this shifting background, DF London still managed to deliver some creative highlights. Most notable was Amazon Fashion’s "Say something nice" campaign. The message – encouraging people to be less judgmental of other people’s style choices and celebrate individuality – drew support from leading fashion influencers.
Meanwhile, the agency’s association with Purina, the Nestlé-owned petcare brand, continued to build. TV presenter Clare Balding starred in the pan-European "We are better with pets" campaign.
Despite the protestations, DF London looks increasingly like the digital division of WCRS. It is a sad end for a once interesting agency with a proper personality of its own.
How the agency describes its year in a tweet
A year in which we refocused @DF_London on being a digital creative specialist built for the age of influence. And went zorbing.
Score key: 9 Outstanding 8 Excellent 7 Good 6 Satisfactory 5 Adequate 4 Below average 3 Poor 2 A year to forget 1 Survival in question