Arnold Wins Monster.com Advertising Account

TMP Worldwide‘s online career site Monster.com Thursday awarded Arnold Communications its $75-90 million domestic advertising account.

The Boston-based agency beat out three competitors in the final review, including BBDO, Wieden & Kennedy and incumbent Mullen, which produced the “When I Grow Up” and “Road Not Taken” television spots of Super Bowls past.

Boston-based management consultants Pile and Company oversaw the review for the account, which represents the bulk of Monster.com’s $135 million 2000 global marketing budget.

While declining to speak in detail about reasons behind the change, Monster.com spokespeople attributed the review to the company’s rapid growth.

“We’ve seen phenomenal growth and our marketing has been really breakthrough, we’ve felt,” said Monster.com vice president of marketing Peter Blacklow. “We felt like we’re at a really important point for growth of our brand.”

Now, Blacklow said, Monster’s brand identity needs to be consolidated and made consistent. Industry-watchers have noted that Monster.com’s television spots, especially the “When I Grow Up” spot, have been well-regarded, but the integration of the brand messaging across different media has been weak.

“We’re at a point now where we have some powerful equities out there, whether it’s the Super Bowl, the blimp, the Olympic sponsorship — and we wanted to take a strong look at marketing and advertising, and make sure we’re maximizing everything we’re doing,” he said.

“There are a lot of messages going on from us; there’s the television, there’s a strong belief in grassroots marketing, there’s the Olympic sponsorship, print and outdoor,” he added.

He said the company had been impressed by Arnold’s work with Volkswagen — which included 1998’s popular “Da Da Da” television spot — and the American Legacy Foundation‘s controversial The Truth anti-smoking campaign.

Arnold has “shown us that they really have an ability to use that voice they’ve defined for us, and to integrate it into everything they do and show us as one strong, true brand, as Monster becomes one of the truly great brands of America,” he said.

Blacklow was reluctant to comment on possible changes in the company’s messaging.

“There’s a lot of exciting stuff that Arnold’s shown us the past couple of weeks, and we’re early in the planning stage,” Blacklow said. “But now the fun really begins.”