Blithely onward: since it won marketing week's agency reputations survey, there has been little joy for McCann-Erickson, which has shed executives as quickly as it has lost business, and has had its accounts investigated by the SEC. But if recently appointed UK boss Rupert Howell is worried, he's not showing it.

Marketing Week, October, 2003 by Lucy Barrett

The world's largest advertising network, McCann-Erickson, has not had an easy ride over the last year. Its European division is still at the centre of an investigation by US financial regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission into accounting irregularities at holding company Interpublic Group, and its high-profile London office has been hit by a series of management reshuffles, client defections and account reviews.

Former McCann-Erickson UK chief executive Tamara Ingram was ousted in January by the agency's then chairman Ben Langdon (MW January 15). Langdon himself was given the push several months later, leaving the agency without anyone at its helm (MW June 26).

In August, the company lured HHCL founder Rupert Howell to replace Langdon as president...