Crispin loses; Orville put back in grave

It's hard not to see the cause-and-effect on this news posted late today on the Ad Age Web site: that ConAgra has just left Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. Don't get it yet? One of the two brands the agency handled was Orville Redenbacher popcorn, for which Crispin infamously resurrected Orville himself, in the creepiest commercial so far this year, above. (The shop also lost ConAgra's Slim Jim account.) But this isn't a case of a big CPG company trying out an alterna-agency and then running back to the boring big shops. According to the Ad Age story, the agency decided not to defend in a pitch that also included Nitro, DDB's San Francisco office, and Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners and Venables, Bell and Partners. Venables won the business.