Argentina's top agency sold to Lowe — the founders walked, the legend dissolved

Agulla & Baccetti was, by the trade's own measure, the most creative agency in Iberoamérica and one of the best in the world. El Ojo named it Best Agency of Iberoamérica in 1999, 2001 and 2002; the US Gunn Report ranked it second-best agency in the world in 2006 and 2009. It won a Cannes Gold Lion and averaged around 150 awards a year. Its value was almost entirely two founders and the creative talent they attracted.

In 2004 the founders sold control. As El Cronista reported, they would sell 55 percent of their shares to Lowe, the Interpublic group agency that already held 44 percent; the market put the deal at about US$10 million. The franchise began to walk out almost at once: the star creative director refused to join Lowe, more senior creatives followed, and the agency's own chief executive spoke of a leadership vacuum — 'acefalía' — in the creative department. Billing fell from about 50 million pesos in 2003 to an expected 43 million.

On 1 November 2004 the legendary name was retired, becoming Lowe A&B. By August 2005 the founders had severed ties entirely and were no longer shareholders; what remained was described in the trade press as a 'remnant' that Lowe considered merging with another agency. The buyer had paid for the most successful agency in Argentina and acquired only the shell — the asset, the people, had left.