School Reports 2011: M&C Saatchi

Score: 6

First to the juicy stuff - the agency provided the industry with a story of national general interest when the Tories turned to their old allies at M&C Saatchi in March on the back of a rather lacklustre Euro RSCG election campaign. This pitched M&C Saatchi against Saatchi & Saatchi, which was representing the Labour Party, in the battle for the keys to Number 10 and briefly caught the public's imagination. David Cameron did emerge as the winner, but as part of a coalition government. So a result for M&C Saatchi, of sorts.

The rest of 2010 was similar - the new-business ledger had as many positives as negatives, with wins from the likes of Network Rail, The Mail on Sunday and Bathstore negated by losses from Foster's, Halfords and Lucozade; a curate's egg, maybe, but at least the M&C Saatchi new-business wheels were rolling.

In terms of creative output, M&C Saatchi's campaign for Dixons.co.uk stood out and scooped two golds for press and outdoor at the Campaign Big Awards and a yellow Pencil at D&AD. The loss of Tiger Savage as the head of art failed to dent an agency that seems to have recovered a semblance of its creative mojo.

Meanwhile, the M&C Saatchi group restructured to set a more integrated agenda. Lida's Lisa Thomas was promoted to group chief executive and Enyi Nwosu arrived from CHI & Partners to head a new central planning unit - all of which should have a positive impact on the creative agency going forward. So, a good year, but there is no reason why M&C Saatchi can't do better in 2011.

Score last year: 7

How M&C Saatchi rates itself: 7

"Put a new man in Number 10. Saw Dixons become the most-awarded campaign in the UK. Slept with the enemy and celebrated 40 years of Saatchistory. Enjoyed ten new-business wins (marred by a couple of losses). Welcomed Enyi Nwosu to head our central strategy unit.Added three new businesses - insight, mobile and PR ... We're all in this together."

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This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk