Hasta La Creative!

When Crispin Porter + Bogusky opened in Boulder, you had to figure other Colorado shops were grousing about mister fancy pants coming to town. One agency went a step further. When Crispin abandoned the Colorado-based Pearl Izumi running account to work for Nike, Karsh\Hagan badmouthed Crispin in a self-promotion campaign aimed at grabbing Pearl Izumi for itself. The ads, which mimicked the look and feel of Crispin’s “We are not joggers” work for the brand, emphasized that Karsh, a unit of TBWA, would never cut and run on a client, even if tempted by untold conflicting treasures. They also created a Web site, WeAreNotCrispin.com. The Denver Egotist has images of the full ads; the campaign apparently just won some sort of local award. Karsh did not evidently pick up the Pearl Izumi business, though. Which is probably just as well. They won’t have to think twice when Nike knocks on their door.

—Posted by Tim Nudd