Multinational accounts have propelled agencies into the international market. Shell was responsible for my building a worldwide network of agencies. This Shell ad is from Ogilvy & Mather’s Frankfurt office. The old way to start a new agency was to defect from the agency which employed you and take some clients with you. Thus Ted Bates started his agency with accounts he had handled at Benton & Bowles. But this gambit has since been hampered by a legal decision. A man called Jones had a thriving agency, but he was an alcoholic and was always falling asleep during presentations. His associates begged him to retire. When the situation became intolerable, they crossed the street and set up their own agency – with some of Jones’s clients. He sued them for conspiracy and won; they had to pay such heavy damages that they were forced to close their agency. In 1981 an agency in New Zealand took successful action against its former Managing Director and Creative Director who had walked out with 17 members of the staff and nine accounts. Gentle reader, you have been warned. With any luck, you will get accounts which grow. When I got American Express in 1962, the advertising budget was $1,000,000. It is now $70,000,000. When you are head of an agency, you know that your staff looks to you to bring in new business, more than anything else. If you fail to do so over an extended period, you sense that you are losing their