FBNY ARVO: Icelandic Procurement Group (IPG)
FROM THE VAULT: June 8, 2012
For the new folks, Jeremy, Henri, Kate and Phoebe, you're probably wondering, what makes this place tick? Who runs the office? Who do they report to? And most important, who's the ultimate big cheese pulling the strings at the top of the food chain?
Simple answer.
FutureBrand and our network of sister agencies report directly into Constituency Management Group (CMG), a shadow organization run from an underground bunker at an undisclosed offshore location. CMG is responsible for all payroll, HR and IT services, as well as supplying the single-ply toilet paper featured in our bathrooms.
CMG is wholly owned and operated by Icelandic Procurement Group (IPG), a multinational holding company headquartered in downtown Reykjavik. Originally founded as a family run distributor of salted cod and pickled herring, IPG now oversees a fully diversified portfolio of marketing communications and fish oil supplement companies. Its chairman and CEO, Holmfridur Hardardottir, built the organization into the powerhouse it is today by rolling up her sleeves and getting in the trenches at all her properties. That's why you see her here, spreadsheet in hand, each and every day.
Headquartered in London, FutureBrand itself consists of 25-ish international offices and affiliates. For the past two years, our North American office, located right here in New York City, has been run by Jim Lowell, Daniel Rosentreter and Sven Seger, with oversight from Holmfridur herself. Beneath them is a sub-committee of senior level middle management representatives from Strategy, Design, Account Management and Business Development. The general populace worker bees are organized by row, each row managed by a Designated Row Supervisor (DRS). While seat placement appears to be random, rows are actually organized by attractiveness and general overall awesomeness. That's why the best looking, smartest people with great hair sit in Row A, and Row D resembles a runny-nosed high school marching band.
OH, and as is their policy, Holmfridur and the IPG powers that be insist all of our clients be acronym based. AA, SAE, CFA, BD, BI, USAA, RCI, GW, UM, NFL and UPS to name a few.
Got all that?
There's one last thing you need to know. ARVO, which appears to be an acronym but actually is not, is our weekly Friday night happy hour. With a $300 cap, we try to drink as much free booze as possible at a local bar before Scott blows it all on martinis or plane tickets to Montreal.
Tonight's ARVO will take place immediately following the Future Friday presentation. We are meeting at Shades of Green, 125 E. 15th Street, between Irving and 3rd Avenue.
And remember, absolutely positively no work talk whatsoever at ARVO!
Unless you are making fun of Marcus' pants. That is permitted.