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When Daniel Morel became CEO of Wunderman, the agency was struggling with its identity. Not anymore
AROUND 285 MADISON Ave., headquarters of direct marketing agency Wunderman, Daniel Morel is known for taking an annual, five-day journey to a remote wilderness location armed only with a penknife. The challenge is survival.
Like most workplace legends, it has a bit of truth and a lot of exaggeration.
Born in France and raised in Brittany, a region famous for spawning adventurers, the 55-year-old executive seeks out extremes, from mountain tops to ocean floors. A current project is to tackle each of the 54 summits above 14,000 feet in Colorado. Trained as a diver in the French Navy, today he has more than 1,500 dives to his credit.
David Sable, his No. 2 and head of London, Middle East and Africa, remembers walking into Wunderman years ago at the same time his boss crossed the threshold. Both men had an arm in a sling. "I dislocated a finger after tripping on 42nd Street," Mr. Sable said. "Daniel's story was so much more glamorous: He was climbing a mountain." "There's a famous saying in France," said Nicolas Bordas, CEO of TBWA France and a former colleague and longtime friend of Mr. Morel. "Têtu comme un Breton. Daniel is determined, and he is brave. He is willing to take a risk."
Coming to Wunderman is a case in point. "Quite frankly, when he walked in, I don't think he realized the avalanche that was about to hit him," said Alexei OrIov, presidentchief operating officer at Wunderman Automotive Worldwide.
It came right after a welcome breakfast of traditional French fare-croissants, jam, butter, freshly roasted coffee and milk-on his first day in January at the company, which was known then as Impiric. Mr. Morel's new executive team delivered some bad news: IBM, an important client and one Mr. Morel knew well from a former post at Blau Marketing Technologies, was threatening to pull its account in Asia. And that was just one of a host of issues threatening the company founded in 1958 by Lester Wunderman, once virtually synonymous with direct marketing.
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