WME Was Responsible For CAA “CAAN’T” Attack Ads Posted At Century City Mall
4TH UPDATE 5:30 PM …Refresh for latest: More photos:
EXCLUSIVE… 3RD UPDATE 2:10 PM: Nikki Finke just learned that WME was responsible for today’s “CAAN’T” ad attack against rival CAA. The William Morris Endeavor agency will not comment publicly. But an insider just broke silence and told Finke: “We thought it was funny. So we put it up. Someone did a logo here and arranged for the ads to go up around town, not just in Century City Mall but in other strategic places. We also arranged for someone to wear a “CAAN’T” T-shirt on this morning’s Today Show. Everyone takes themselves too seriously. Have some humor.” When the story first broke, Deadline contacted rival agencies around town to see if they were responsible. All denied they had anything to do with the campaign except WME which did not return repeated calls. Besides the mall, the ads were posted in areas of La Brea and Santa Monica, according to eyewitnesses. Wearing the “CAAN’T” T-shirt on the Today Show was a busty brunette who drew maximum attention. Meanwhile, David O. Russell has denied to Deadline that he was the director described in the New York Post blind item on Page Six. Meanwhile, all attempts to pull down the “CAAN’T” ads at Century Mall have ended.
2ND UPDATE 1:30 PM: A JC Decaux rep is at Century City Mall and management told Deadline’s Jen Yamato that the company received word to take down the ads. Looks like mall management and security is starting with the most prominent one displayed in the Food Court during lunchtime. However, a half hour later they’ve had difficulty removing it possibly because it’s a scrolling ad and not just a standard poster. From what she can see, attempts have halted.
UPDATE 12:45 PM: Deadline is told that the ad agency JC Decaux sold the ads and is now ”working with” Century City Mall security and management to take down the placards.
11:30 PM: There’s a blitz of anti-CAA ads up everywhere at LA’s Century City Mall today. The placards with CAA’s signature red-with-white lettering reads “CAAN’T” are splashed everywhere at the mall, which is two blocks away from the talent agency’s headquarters. CAA just heard about the ads, which popped up this morning starting in the popular Food Court, and is asking Westfield Century City where they came from. Westfield management isn’t talking yet, as they’re scrambling themselves to find out what’s going on. On-site mall management told Deadline that 78 ads have been taken out. Rival agencies around town are denying starting to deny they had anything to do with the campaign. A website, CAANT.com, has emerged showing on its homepage only a recent Page Six item from the NY Post. It refers to a “recently nominated Oscar director” who “loudly groused in a high-level meeting about being frustrated with his Hollywood agency by yelling: ‘They should be called Caan’t! Caan’t, Caan’t, Caanttttttt!?’” One rival agency tells Deadline that director was David O. Russell.Stay tuned…
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